f 


1620 
1920 


o,  3  <J  3 


PILGRIM   DEEDS  AND   DUTIES 


PILGRIM  DEEDS 
AND   DUTIES 


A  HANDBOOK 

OF  CONGREGATIONAL  HISTORY 
AND  OUTLOOK 


PREPARED  FOR  THE  TERCENTENARY 

OF  CONGREGATIONALISM 

IN  AMERICA 


1620       \SEgy     1920 


THE   PILGRIM   PRESS 

BOSTON  AND  CHICAGO 
1916 


COPYRIGHT  1916 

THE  NATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  CONGREGATIONAL 
CHURCHES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


THE    PILGRIM    PRESS 
BOSTON 


PREFACE 

This  brief  book  has  been  prepared  by  direction  of  the 
Tercentenary  Commission.  It  is  especially  designed  to 
be  of  service  in  promoting  study  of  the  fundamental 
convictions  around  which  Congregationalism  centers.  It 
is  thus  directly  related  to  the  first  item  of  the  proposed 
Tercentenary  Program,  a  copy  of  which  will  be  found  in 
the  Appendix. 

Both  in  the  preparation  of  the  manuscript  and  its 
revision,  several  persons  have  had  a  share.  It  is  hoped 
that  the  composite  view  of  Congregational  history  and 
principles  thus  secured  may  be  more  widely  representative 
than  could  otherwise  be  the  case. 

The  Commission  is  especially  and  gratefully  indebted  to 
Rev.  Ross  Warren  Sanderson  of  Sandusky,  Ohio,  for 
abundant  and  generous  labor  given  to  the  gathering  and 
grouping  of  materials.  Acknowledgment  is  also  made  to 
Rev.  Geo.  R.  Merrill,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  for 
the  careful  preparation  of  a  portion  of  the  Appendix. 

The  illustrations  have  been  grouped  in  a  single  section 
of  the  book  for  mechanical  reasons.  It  is  hoped  that  they 
may  aid  the  memory  to  carry  the  names  and  services  of 
Congregational  leaders  of  the  past. 

The  paragraph  titles  and  the  questions  at  the  close  of 
each  chapter  indicate  the  hope  of  the  Commission  that  the 
book  may  be  widely  used  for  consecutive  study  by  Bible 
Classes,  Endeavor  Societies  and  other  organizations. 

It  is  also  hoped  that  this  brief  account  of  three  hundred 
years  of  Congregationalism  and  of  its  witness  to  great 
truths  and  enduring  principles  may  lead  to  wider  reading 


2052093 


Preface 

along  the  same  lines.     A  short  bibliography  will  be  found 
in  the  Appendix. 

The  Commission  takes  this  renewed  opportunity  of 
urging  wide  and  earnest  cooperation  in  making  the  years 
between  the  present  and  1920  a  period  of  unprecedented 
achievement  in  the  building  up  of  the  Kingdom  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

TERCENTENARY  COMMISSION 

DONALD  J.   COWLING,   Chairman 

ERNEST  BOURNER  ALLEN  HENRY  C.  KING 

MARION  L.  BURTON  CHARLES  S.  MILLS 

HENRY  M.  BEARDSLEY  WILLIAM  W.  NEWELL 

CHARLES  F.  CARTER  CORNELIUS  H.  PATTON 

OZORA  S.  DAVIS  CHARLES  J.  RYDER 

ALBERT  P.  FITCH  FRANK  M.  SHELDON 

FRANK  KIMBALL  HERMAN  F.  SWARTZ 

HUBERT  C.   HERRING  /  ffffrftnrif^ 

WILLIAM  W.  SCUDDER  f  ^ec 

Fourteen  Beacon  Street, 

BOSTON,  MASS. 
October,  1916. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 
The  Beginnings  of  Congregationalism    Chapter  I 

PAGE 

Our  Heritage  of  Freedom 1 

The  Act  of  Uniformity       .      ......      .  1 

The  English  Establishment     ....      ,:  \  .    ,  ^  2 

The  Rise  of  Puritanism >  ,  .    ,  ,  3 

Puritan  Views .3 

Origin  of  Separatism 4 

Parish  System v     »  '    4 

Gathered  Churches 5 

Robert  Browne 6 

Greenwood  and  Barrowe 7 

John  Penry 8 

The  Scrooby  Church '.  8 

Scrooby  Church  Emigrates 9 

Dutch  Protestantism 9 

John  Robinson 9 

Brewster  and  Bradford 10 

Decision  to  leave  Holland 11 

The  "Mayflower"          11 

Beginnings  of  New  England 12 

Early  Hardships 13 

The  First  Years 14 

The  Heritage  Secure 14 

Development  in  a  New  Land    Chapter  II 

Isolation  of  the  Pilgrims          17 

James  I  Proves  Stubborn  .      .      ...      .      .      .  17 

Archbishop  JLaud     .      .      ,      .     -.      .      .      .      .      .  18 

vii 


viii  Table  of  Contents 

PAGE 

Thomas  Hooker 18 

The  Puritan  Exodus 19 

Pilgrim  and  Puritan 20 

Salem  Church 20 

Uniformity  Reversed 21 

Settling  of  Connecticut 22 

New  Haven  Colony 23 

Roger  Williams 23 

Anne  Hutchinson          24 

The  Quakers 25 

Witchcraft 26 

Colleges  and  Schools 26 

Missions  to  the  Indians 27 

John  Eliot 28 

The  Halfway  Covenant 29 

Jonathan  Edwards 30 

The  Man  and  His  Message 31 

The  Great  Awakening 31 

Results  to  the  Churches 32 

Other  Results 32 

Edwards  as  a  Theologian 33 

The  Heritage  Maintained        ..."....  33 

Democracy  in  Church  and  State    Chapter  III 

Sources  of  Democracy 36 

Dimness  of  Vision 36 

Kind  of  People 37 

A  First  Step 38 

Church  Organization 38 

The  Town  Meeting 40 

Church  Life 40 

Disestablishment                                                   .      •  42 


Table  of  Contents 


PAGE 

Local  Independence      .      .    • .      .     /     ;      .      .      .  42 

New  England  Confederation  .     •.••./•;.      »      .   .  .  43 

The  Cambridge  Platform  .      ...     .,     .      .      .  43 

The  Proposals  of  1705        .     ;  ;:  ,.     .      .  -..      ...  44 

The  Saybrook  Synod 44 

Hooker's  Influence 45 

John  Wise -.      .  46 

The  Outcome '.      .  47 

Nineteenth  Century  Expansion    Chapter  IV 

The  Dynamic  Century .      .  49 

Rise  of  Unitarianism 49 

How  It  Happened 50 

The  Loss  of  Harvard 52 

Andover  Seminary 52 

Other  Seminaries 52 

The  Missionary  Motive 53 

Founding  of  the  American  Board       ...'..  53 

Its  Remarkable  History 55 

An  Established  Work         55 

Its  Manifold  Agencies 56 

Beginnings  of  Home  Missions 57 

The  Northwest  Territory 58 

A  National  Home  Missionary  Society     ....  58 

Typical  Beginnings 59 

The  Louisiana  Purchase 60 

The  Coast  States .  61 

Immigrant  Populations 62 

The  American  Missionary  Association          ...  63 

Its  Varied  Work 63 

Western  Colleges     .      .      .      ....'.      .      .  65 

Great  Leaders    .  66 


Table  of  Contents 


PAGE 

Christian  Endeavor 67 

The  Heritage  Invested 67 

Adjustment  to  Changing  Needs    Chapter  V 

A  Century  of  Adjustment 70 

The  Slave  Question 70 

Intellectual  Readjustment 71 

The  Social  Awakening 73 

Reforms 74 

Certain  Key  Notes 75 

A  Curious  Modesty 76 

Internal  Organization 78 

Administrative  Readjustment 79 

Unity  in  Diversity 81 

Place  and  Responsibility  of  Congregationalism    Chapter  VI 

Congregationalism's  Unique  Place 84 

No  Exclusive  Claims          85 

Good-Will 85 

Friendly  Deeds 86 

Prophets  of  Unity         87 

Unwilling  to  Surrender 87 

Central  Convictions 88 

Message  of  Redemption 89 

The  Missionary  Obligation 90 

Wide  Liberty 91 

Thorough  Democracy 92 

Fellowship          93 

Emphasis  Upon  Righteousness 94 

Conviction  of  the  Value  of  Knowledge   ....  95 

Spirit  of  Progress 96 


Table  of  Contents 


PAGE 

New  Educational  Demands 97 

Together 98 

BETWEEN 

ILLUSTRATIONS 99-101 

APPENDIX 101-116 

Along  the  Congregational  Way 101-104 

Heralds  and  Pioneers 101 

Of  the  Mayflower  Company,  1620       ....      101 

A  Hundred  Noted  Names 101 

The  Puritan. 105 

Important  Events  in  Congregational  History    .      .      106 
Statement    of    Faith    and     Polity    Adopted    by 

National  Council  —  Kansas  City,  October,  1913      108 
A  Tercentenary  Program 109 

STATISTICS 112-115 

Comparisons 112 

Statistics  of  Congregational  Churches  in  U.  S.  .  113 

International  Congregationalism 114 

Theological  Seminaries 115 

A  BRIEF  LIST  OF  BOOKS  ON  CONGREGATIONALISM     116 


PILGRIM   DEEDS  AND   DUTIES 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  CONGREGATIONALISM 

/-»      TT    -A          .     It  is  hard  for  any  age  to  imagine  the 

Our  Heritage  of      ,.„     .  .        ,  .     y     °. 

_       ,  difficulties  of  its  predecessors.     In  our 

Freedom          .      ,        ,  ,.  .        __  , 

land  and  century  religious  toleration  is 

taken  for  granted.  Roman  Catholics,  Episcopalians,  Lu- 
therans, Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  live  together 
in  friendly  relations.  All  communions  to  some  extent  co- 
operate in  good  works  and  are  loyal  to  a  common  flag. 
We  have  not  reached  agreement  in  belief  but  we  have 
learned  that  each  man  must  be  free  to  believe  what  he  will. 
How  little  we  realize  the  long  struggle  which  purchased 
our  freedom. 

_,  .  ,  The  story  of  this  struggle  as  definitely  related 
TT  *f  *fv  *°  Congregationalism  begins  with  Queen 
aity  Elizabeth  (1558-1603).  She  was  an  en- 
lightened and  liberal  monarch.  But  personal  religion 
meant  very  little  to  her  and  the  political  uses  of  the  church 
meant  much.  It  appeared  to  her  highly  important  to 
prevent  any  change  in  the  religious  organization  of  her 
realm.  So  by  the  "  Act  of  Uniformity  "  she  made  com- 
pulsory the  use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  by  every 
religious  assembly.  Narrow-minded  ecclesiastics  followed 
the  matter  with  zeal  and  before  long  it  was  almost  impossible 


Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


to  hold  an  unauthorized  meeting  or  "  conventicle  "  without 
arrest. 

Th    En  li  h      ^°  un^erstanc^  tn*s  state  °f  affairs  we  must 
_,  ,  remember  the  course  which  the  Protestant 

Establishment     „   ,.  ,     ,    , 

Reformation  had  almost  universally  taken. 

While  the  Reformation  under  Henry  VIII  in  England  was 
more  political  than  religious,  it  was  similar  to  that  of  other 
countries  in  the  assumption  that  a  state  could  have  only 
one  type  of  Christianity.  In  Germany,  for  instance,  if  a 
prince  changed  his  faith,  the  people  were  forced  to  change 
theirs,  if  he  remained  Catholic,  the  people  were  expected 
to  remain  true  to  Rome. 

The  break  with  the  Pope  in  England  meant  merely  the 
substitution  of  a  national  for  an  international  authority  in 
the  church.  The  monasteries  were  suppressed  and  the 
spoils  divided,  otherwise  there  was  as  little  change  as 
possible.  The  "  reformed  church  of  England  "  represented 
no  radical  reformation  and  was  not  intended  to  do  so. 
Formalism,  the  ignorance  and  immorality  of  the  priest- 
hood, the  tyranny  of  the  church  in  purely  personal 
matters  —  these  were  only  slightly  mitigated.  The  people 
continued  to  be  denied  any  voice  in  the  appointment  of 
their  parish  ministers.  No  general  church  convocations 
with  lay  representatives  were  allowed.  Clerical  convo- 
cations could  assemble  only  at  the  command  of  the 
sovereign.  Instead  of  freedom  Henry  had  given  the 
church  a  single  despotism  in  place  of  the  joint  authority 
previously  exercised  over  it  by  kings  and  pope.  The 
"  Act  of  Supremacy  "  by  which  the  King  became  the  head 
of  the  church  was  a  declaration  of  independence  for  the 
nation.  But  for  the  individual  Englishman  it  was  simply 
a  new  form  of  slavery.  Under  this  act  when  Henry  was 
gone  his  daughter,  Queen  Elizabeth,  was  empowered  to 


The  Beginnings  of  Congregationalism  3 

establish  the  court  later  known  as  the  "  High  Commission 
for  Causes  Ecclesiastical."  We  shall  presently  see  some- 
thing of  the  working  of  this  court. 

_,,     _,.  Politically   the   development  just  described 

The  Rise  of  *  J  ,      „     .      , 

_     ..     .  was  doubtless  a  fortunate  one  for  England. 

Puritanism      _.  ..  .      ,     .  L    ,     ,      , . 

Religiously  it  was  most  deplorable.     It  led 

to  long  years  of  corruption  and  strife.  The  evil  of  it  is  still 
manifest. 

The  events  which  followed  were  very  natural.  Early 
Protestantism  everywhere  believed  that  the  Scriptures  are 
the  sole  rule  of  faith  and  order.  These  Scriptures,  which 
long  years  before  had  been  translated  into  English  by 
Wyclif  and  others,  were  permitted  by  the  authorities  to 
circulate  freely.  They  rightly  thought  that  an  open  Bible 
would  turn  the  minds  of  the  people  against  Rome.  They 
failed  to  see  that  it  would  also  turn  them  against  the 
Roman  traditions  and  abuses  which  Elizabeth  was  con- 
tinuing. 

Protests  soon  began.  At  first  they  were  only  concerning 
ceremonies  and  vestments.  A  party  arose  which  favored 
greater  simplicity.  It  soon  came  to  be  known  as  the 
"  Puritan  party." 

p  .  The  Puritan  movement  stands  out  as  one  of  the 
,,.  great  landmarks  in  the  history  of  Christianity. 

As  time  went  on  it  came  to  represent  two  things 
of  profoundest  importance.  One  was  the  humble  recog- 
nition of  God's  ceaseless  and  sovereign  guidance  of  human 
affairs.  It  was  the  Puritan's  desire  to  live  in  constant 
realization  of  the  presence  of  God.  In  the  Appendix  of 
this  book  will  be  found  a  passage  from  Macaulay  which 
wonderfully  describes  this  characteristic. 

The  other  mark  of  the  Puritans  was  their  endeavor  to 


Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


order  all  human  conduct  down  to  its  least  detail  in  accord- 
ance with  the  will  of  God.  This  meant  antagonism  to  the 
evils  of  their  day  and  of  course  won  for  them  an  abundance 
of  hate.  "  Puritan  "  became  on  the  lips  of  many  a  word 
of  derision.  In  our  own  day  we  often  hear  people  speaking 
contemptuously  of  Puritanism.  Thoughtful  people  cannot 
share  the  sneer.  They  remember  that  Puritanism  was  and 
is  nothing  more  than  the  effort  to  face  all  of  God's  truth  and 
to  meet  all  of  man's  duty.  There  is  no  better  program  than 
that.  The  world  owes  an  immeasurable  debt  to  the 
Puritans.  The  mistakes  they  may  have  made  do  not 
prove  their  purpose  mistaken.  They  only  reveal  afresh 
the  frailty  of  human  nature. 

_  .  .       ,      Since  the  time  of  Wyclif,  who  has  been  called 
_  .          "  the    Morning   Star   of    the    Reformation," 

there  had  been  developments  here  and  there 
of  independent  churches.  In  1567  there  existed  in  London 
a  small,  "  poor  congregation  whom  God  has  separated 
from  the  churches  of  England,  and  from  the  mingled  and 
false  worshipping  therein  used."  The  word  "  separated  " 
indicates  the  emergence  among  the  stricter  Puritans  of  the 
doctrine  of  "  Separatism."  These  people  were  not  merely 
saying  that  the  national  church  was  full  of  abuses  but  were 
asking  whether  its  fundamental  idea  was  not  altogether 
wrong.  Ought  there  to  be  a  national  church  at  all?  Or  if 
so,  ought  it  not  to  rest  on  different  principles? 

These  feeble  beginnings  were  promptly  crushed  out. 
But  they  were  mile-posts  on  the  way  toward  Congrega- 
tionalism. 

_     .      _  In  order  to  understand  what  Separatism 

meant  to  the  people  of  that  time  we  must 

recall  the  nature  of  their  parish  system.     "  Parish  "  with 

us  is  a  term  used  in  various  senses,  but  without  very  precise 


Th  e  Beginnings  of  Congregationalism  5 

meaning.  In  the  England  of  Elizabeth's  time  it  was  the 
local  unit  of  a  national  ecclesiastical  monopoly  and  had 
control  religiously  of  every  soul  within  its  bounds. 

The  case  in  theory  is  not  much  different  today.  The 
Anglican  church  thinks  of  itself  as  the  national  church  of 
the  whole  people,  an  integral  part  of  the  constitution  of  the 
realm.  In  practice,  of  course,  this  theory  has  had  to  be 
greatly  modified,  since  only  about  half  the  English  people 
are  in  the  established  church.  But  at  the  date  under  dis- 
cussion it  was  legally  required  that  every  English  child 
should  be  baptized  into  the  national  church  and  every 
citizen  of  England  was  by  reason  of  his  citizenship,  even 
though  he  was  flagrantly  wicked,  a  member  of  the  English 
church  and  subject  to  its  laws. 

G  th  d  ^y  ^^  there  were  perhaps  two  hundred  bold 
P.  ,  spirits  who  had  deliberately  taken  their  stand 

outside  the  national  church.  They  claimed 
to  be  more  truly  a  church  than  any  "  parish  "  church,  for 
they  held  that  they  conformed  to  the  primitive  pattern. 
To  them  the  New  Testament  plainly  taught  that  only 
the  fellowship  of  believers  constituted  the  church.  The 
"  mingled  "  communion  of  the  parish  churches  seemed  to 
them  to  make  impossible  true  spiritual  comradeship.  They 
rejected  a  system  which  offered  no  guarantee  of  the  spiritual 
fitness  of  the  ministry  other  than  the  approval  of  a  bishop. 
They  determined  to  have  a  voice  themselves  in  deciding 
whether  a  man  should  minister  to  them  in  the  Word  of  God. 
As  Robert  Browne  finally  put  it,  "  The  Kingdom  of  God 
was  not  to  be  begun  by  whole  parishes,  but  rather  by 
the  worthiest,  were  they  never  so  few."  Accordingly 
we  have  so-called  "  gathered  "  churches  appearing,  each 
with  its  own  mutual  covenant  as  a  basis  of  fellow- 
ship. 


Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


_,  .      ,  .p,  This  man,  Robert  Browne,  was  an  Angh- 

Robert  Browne  .    & 

can  minister  at  Norwich.     Just  prior  to 

1580  he  began  to  champion  the  cause  of  the  Separatists. 
Numerous  persons  were  attracted  to  a  congregation  under 
his  leadership.  Its  members  became  associated  in  a 
religious  "  covenant  "  to  the  refusing  of  all  "  ungodlie 
communion  with  wicked  persons."  Such  activities,  how- 
ever, resulted  in  his  early  arrest. 

In  1581,  after  repeated  imprisonments,  he  and  his  follow- 
ers went  into  voluntary  exile  and  established  themselves 
at  Middleburg,  Holland.  Here  Browne  published  a  book 
which  set  forth  the  system  of  church  government  which 
he  advocated.  In  it  he  frankly  urges  his  readers  to  separate 
from  a  church  which  he  considers  incapable  of  reformation. 
How  dangerous  it  was  to  circulate  the  printed  matter 
which  these  early  Congregationalists  managed  to  publish 
in  Holland  and  smuggle  over  to  England,  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds  in  1583  two  men  were 
executed  for  sedition  because  they  circulated  a  collection  of 
Browne's  "  scismatical  "  writings  published  the  year  before 
at  Middleburg. 

Unfortunately,  Browne  himself  seems  to  have  been  less 
heroic.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  his  mind  as  well 
as  his  courage  became  impaired.  In  any  case  he  finally 
returned  to  the  established  church,  and  his  life,  it  must 
be  admitted,  came  to  a  rather  unfortunate  anticlimax. 
His  church  at  Middleburg  broke  up  within  two  years 
owing  to  internal  dissensions.  Early  Congregationalists 
naturally  resented  the  nickname  "  Brownists."  None 
the  less,  Robert  Browne  was  a  pioneer  of  such  large 
originality  and  force  that  he  has  a  right  to  be  looked 
upon  as  the  first  champion  of  the  Congregational 
ideal. 


The  Beginnings  of  Congregationalism  7 

Happily,  others  were  made  of  sturdier 
Greenwood  and         £.      T    « -0,        .          ^    .  .     , 

„  stuff.     In  1586,  owing  to  the  increasingly 

Barrowe  .   '          *          .     „ 

stern  repression  of      sectaries,     we  find 

one  John  Greenwood  in  jail  in  London  for  exercising  that 
sort  of  freedom  of  conscience  in  religion  that  is  a  mere 
commonplace  with  us  today.  There  is  a  touch  of  comedy 
—  though  doubtless  he  did  not  think  of  it  so  —  in  the  ex- 
perience of  Greenwood's  friend,  Henry  Barrowe,  who  went 
to  see  him  in  jail.  The  jailer,  without  authority  but  pretty 
sure  of  his  course,  promptly  locked  Barrowe  up,  too!  After 
six  months  the  two  men  were  released  on  bail,  but  a  second 
imprisonment  lasted  five  years. 

During  this  long  confinement  they  wrote  tracts  which 
were  printed  in  Holland.  It  so  happened  that  Francis 
Johnson,  the  Puritan  clergyman  who  was  serving  the 
British  residents  of  Middleburg  in  those  days,  was  a  very 
human  mixture  of  loyalty  and  curiosity.  While  he  re- 
ported the  publication  there  of  a  dangerous  book  by 
Greenwood  and  Barrowe,  and  saw  to  it  that  the  entire 
edition  was  burned,  he  was  very  careful  to  save  two  copies, 
"  one  to  help  in  his  own  study  that  he  might  see  their  errors, 
and  the  other  to  bestow  on  a  special  friend  for  a  like  use." 
This  curiosity  paved  the  way  for  his  own  conversion  to 
the  Separatist  view. 

With  the  courage  of  his  convictions  he  returned  to 
London  to  confer  with  Barrowe,  who  was  in  prison,  and 
was  made  pastor  of  the  Separatist  church.  Greenwood 
was  elected  as  teacher  and  others  were  chosen  as  ruling 
elders  and  deacons.  Very  shortly  both  pastor  and  teacher 
were  arrested.  It  was  thereupon  decided  to  make  an 
example  of  Greenwood  and  Barrowe.  They  were  found 
guilty  of  circulating  seditious  books  and  sentenced  to 
death.  Although  twice  reprieved,  they  were  finally  hanged. 


Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


T  hn  P  Meanwhile  another  eager  spirit,  John  Penry, 

had  found  himself  in  trouble  for  what  seems 
to  us  a  commendable  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  country- 
men, the  Welsh  people.  At  that  time  there  was  no  preach- 
ing in  Wales,  but  only  the  reading  of  the  services  as  pro- 
vided in  the  Prayer  Book.  Penry  made  bold  to  offer  some 
suggestions  of  improvement.  His  reward  was  imprison- 
ment. On  his  release  he  managed  to  continue  his  sugges- 
tions by  the  publications  which  came  in  fugitive  manner 
from  a  press  that  had  been  given  him.  Many  efforts  were 
made  to  locate  that  press,  but  for  a  long  time  without 
success. 

In  1589  Penry  had  to  flee  to  Scotland.  Here  he  adopted 
Separatist  principles.  The  day  before  the  execution  of 
Greenwood  and  Barrowe,  Penry 's  place  of  concealment  in 
London,  whither  he  had  returned,  was  discovered  by 
treachery.  At  thirty-three  years  of  age  he  was  hanged, 
the  last  of  the  martyrs  of  early  Congregationalism.  Just 
before  his  death,  he  advised  his  friends  to  leave  London. 
He  was  doubtless  right.  The  Queen,  the  Parliament  and 
the  clergy  were  combined  to  crush  out  Separatism.  What 
could  a  few  poor  and  obscure  people  do?  Penry 's  advice 
was  followed  by  most  of  the  London  church. 
„,,  „  ,  This  is  a  very  famous  name  in  Congrega- 
Ch  h  ti°na^sm-  A  Separatist  church  had  been 
started  at  Gainsborough.  In  1606  they 
concluded  to  divide  it.  One  part  went  to  Amsterdam. 
Others  joined  with  a  company  of  Separatists  at  Scrooby, 
some  miles  out  in  the  country.  They  worshipped  in  the 
manor-house  of  William  Brewster.  This  house,  very  much 
built  over,  can  still  be  seen.  Like  all  the  early  Separatist 
churches,  they  had  two  ministers  —  one  called  "  pastor  " 
and  the  other,  "  teacher.'  John  Robinson  was  their  teacher. 


The  Beginnings  of  Congregationalism  9 

He  was  a  Cambridge  man,  only  twenty-five  years  old,  but 
beginning  to  show  leadership. 

_,  In  1607  the  Scrooby  church  also  decided 

Scrooby  Church  TT  „      .* 

-    .  to  move  to  Holland  to  escape  the  growing 

Emigrates  .          „       ~ 

persecution.  But  England  was  as  un- 
willing to  have  them  leave  as  to  have  them  stay.  Fifty 
miles  from  Scrooby  was  the  seaport  of  old  Boston  on  the 
eastern  coast  of  England.  Here  they  made  their  way,  only 
to  be  betrayed  by  a  shipmaster  and  imprisoned  for  a  month. 
Six  months  later  we  find  them  trying  to  leave  England  from 
Hull.  This  time  after  a  chapter  of  accidents  some  of  the 
men  got  aboard  and  were  carried  away  on  a  tempestuous 
voyage  to  Holland,  while  the  women  and  children  were 
detained  by  officers  on  shore.  These  helpless  captives 
proved  only  an  embarrassment  to  their  captors,  and  finally, 
singly  or  in  little  groups,  the  entire  Scrooby  company 
reached  Amsterdam. 

^  What   does   it   mean    that   these    English 

._.  exiles  so  uniformly  went  to  Holland?     Be- 

Protestantism  *  u-    j  *  u- 

cause  it  was  near  at  hand  for  one  thing. 

But  the  chief  attraction  was  the  fact  that  the  Dutch  people 
at  that  early  day  had  learned  the  lesson  of  religious  freedom. 
They  had  bought  their  own  liberty  with  a  great  price.  For 
long  years  they  had  been  at  war  with  Spain,  which  was 
determined  they  should  wear  her  yoke  and  the  yoke  of 
Rome.  Just  before  the  Scrooby  people  emigrated  the 
Spanish  forces  had  been  driven  out.  The  Dutch  people 
were  free  and  were  willing  others  should  be  free.  The  world 
owes  a  debt  to  the  Holland  of  that  day,  and  indeed  to  the 
Holland  of  all  the  days  since. 

TV,    t>  ^-r,  The  newly-arrived  exiles  found   Amster- 

Jonn  Robinson      ,  .       , ,        „, 

dam  uncomfortable.     There  were  various 

causes,  principally  the  fact  that  the  Separatist  Church  al- 


10  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

ready  in  existence  there  was  a  contentious  body.  Finally 
the  Scrooby  church  moved  to  Leyden,  twenty-five  miles 
away,  where  they  lived  from  1609  to  1620  with  John  Robin- 
son as  their  pastor. 

John  Robinson  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  examples 
in  history  of  the  value  of  goodness  and  good  sense.  He  was 
not  an  aggressive  reformer  like  Luther,  nor  a  fiery  preacher 
like  Knox,  nor  an  organizer  like  Wesley,  nor  a  system  maker 
like  Calvin.  But  he  was  a  diligent  scholar,  a  sweet-tem- 
pered, faithful  and  wise  pastor.  He  was  not  great  in  any 
of  the  things  which  the  world  counts  conspicuous,  but  he 
had  the  greatness  which  overtops  them  all,  for  he  was  a 
great  man.  Among  those  early  Separatists  he  is  easily 
chief. 

He  looked  out  on  the  world  with  tolerant  eyes,  willing  to 
think  and  let  others  think.  He  lived  in  gracious  relations 
with  his  Dutch  neighbors.  He  recognized  as  his  brethren 
the  great  company  of  true-hearted  men  in  the  English 
church.  Among  his  own  people  he  showed  a  sweetness  of 
spirit  and  an  elevation  of  character  which  compelled  their 
reverence.  He  had  great  power  in  moulding  the  lives  of 
those  under  his  influence. 

The  spirit  of  Plymouth  Colony  was  in  large  degree  the 
spirit  of  John  Robinson  stamped  upon  the  lives  of  its 
leaders.  Of  Robinson's  words  the  most  often  quoted  is  a 
sentence  from  an  address  in  which,  urging  his  people  to 
keep  their  minds  and  hearts  open  to  the  Divine  Spirit,  he 
said,  "  God  hath  more  Truth  and  Light  yet  to  break  out 
of  His  Holy  Word."  It  has  been  one  of  the  mottoes  of 
Congregationalism  throughout  its  history. 

•n  Two  other  men  were  prominent  figures  in 

Brewster  and      ,       ,       ,      ,  T  wii-       n 

„  the  church  of   Leyden.     William  Brewster 

was  the  postmaster  at  Scrooby.     In  Holland 


The  Beginnings  of  Congregationalism  11 

he  supported  himself  by  teaching  English.  Also,  he  and 
one  Thomas  Brewer  printed  books  on  religion,  whose  nature 
is  easily  guessed,  for  sale  in  England.  It  furnished  them 
"  imploymente  inough,"  as  the  old  record  runs.  In  1619 
the  English  government  managed  to  seize  their  types. 

William  Bradford  was  younger  than  Brewster.  Living 
at  Austerfield,  a  few  miles  from  Scrooby,  he  became  in- 
terested in  the  Scrooby  church  and  went  to  Holland  with 
the  exiles.  There  he  studied  Dutch,  French,  Latin,  Greek 
and  Hebrew.  Evidently  early  Congregationalism  believed 
in  knowledge.  We  shall  meet  Brewster  and  Bradford  again 
over  in  America. 

But  these  Scrooby  people  were  unhappy 
Decision  to  leave     .     T  ~, 

TT  „      ,  in   Leyden.      Ihe  reasons  were  many. 

Holland  ,  .      ~ 

They   had   been    farmers   in    England. 

Holland  was  a  commercial  country.  They  were  homesick 
and  poor.  There  seemed  no  future  before  them  in  a  land 
which  was  not  their  own.  Their  Puritan  Sabbath  was  hard 
to  keep  in  a  continental  country.  Their  children  were 
growing  up  in  an  alien  atmosphere.  Then,  too,  there  was 
always  stirring  in  them  the  desire  to  extend  the  faith  which 
they  had  learned,  and  to  worship  God  in  full  freedom.  So 
they  decided  to  go  to  America.  They  had  all  kinds  of 
trouble  in  making  arrangements.  Evidently  rascals  were 
even  more  numerous  in  those  days  than  now.  But  after 
three  years,  they  were  ready. 

The  Mayflower      . We  come  n°w  toa  very  f^11™ °f 
the  story.     Certain    men    in    England 

entered  into  partnership  with  the  Leyden  company  to 
procure  ships  and  supplies  for  the  voyage  and  settlement. 
A  patent  was  obtained  from  the  Virginia  Company,  which 
had  already  founded  a  colony  at  Jamestown  in  1607.  Two 
vessels,  the  "  Speedwell "  and  the  "  Mayflower,"  were 


12  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

secured.  About  the  middle  of  July,  1620,  they  sailed  from 
Delfthaven,  Holland,  to  Southampton,  England,  whence 
they  were  to  embark  for  America.  It  was  necessary  for 
John  Robinson  and  part  of  the  Leyden  company  to  remain 
behind. 

The  anxiety  and  grief  of  those  days  of  parting  are  revealed 
in  the  quiet  words  of  Governor  Bradford's  "  History,"  "  The 
time  was  spent  in  powering  out  prairs  to  ye  Lord  with  great 
fervencie  mixed  with  abundance  of  tears.  So  they  left 
yc  goodly  and  pleasante  citie  which  had  been  ther  resting 
place  near  twelve  years:  but  they  knew  they  were  pilgrimes 
and  looked  not  much  on  those  things  but  lift  up  ther  eyes 
to  ye  heavens  ther  dearest  cuntrie  and  quieted  their 
spirits." 

Attempting  to  sail  from  Southampton,  the  "  Speedwell," 
a  crazy  craft  of  only  sixty  tons,  sprung  a  leak  and  had  to  be 
abandoned.  But  the  little  "  Mayflower,"  "  the  most  famous 
ship  in  history,"  as  some  one  has  called  it,  bore  them  safely 
across  the  sea.  Burdened  and  anxious  but  unfaltering  in 
their  purpose  to  do  God's  will  they  drew  near  to  their 
Promised  Land. 

•D  -  •  f  Their  first  landing  was  at  what  is  now 
TO-  -p  1  j  Province  town  on  the  very  tip  of  Cape  Cod. 
It  was  not  at  all  where  they  intended  to  go. 
Their  patent  called  for  a  location  hundreds  of  miles  farther 
south.  But  they  were  worn  with  the  journey  and  winter 
was  drawing  on.  They  had  to  make  some  swift  decisions. 
The  first  was  to  settle  in  that  region  whether  they  had  a 
legal  right  to  do  so  or  not.  The  next  was  to  draw  up  a 
constitution  for  the  government  of  their  colony.  Here 
it  is,  the  famous  "  Mayflower  Compact,"  signed  in  the 
Cabin  of  the  "  Mayflower  "  by  forty-one  men. 


The  Beginnings  of  Congregationalism  13 


In  ye  name  of  God  Amen.  We  whofe  names  are 
underwriten,  the  loyall  fubjects  of  our  dread  fover- 
aigne  lord  King  James,  by  ye  grace  of  God,  of  great 
Britaine,  Franc,  &  Ireland  king,  defender  of  ye 
faith,  &c. 

Haveing  undertaken,  for  ye  glorie  of  God,  and 
advancemente  of  ye  chriftian  faith  and  honour  of 
our  king  &  countrie,  a  voyage  to  plant  y*  firft 
colonie  in  ye  Northerne  parts  of  Virginia.  Doe  by 
thefe  prefents  folemnly  &  mutualy  in  ye  prefence  of 
God,  and  one  of  another;  covenant,  &  combine  our 
felves  togeather  into  a  civill  body  politick;  for  our 
better  ordering,  &  prefervation  &  furtherance  of  y8 
ends  aforefaid;  and  by  vertue  hearof  to  enacte,  con- 
ftitute,  and  frame  fhuch  juft  &  equall  lawes,  or- 
dinances, Acts,  conftitutions,  &  offices,  from  time 
to  time,  as  fhall  be  thought  moft  meete  &  convenient 
for  ye  generall  good  of  ye  Colonie:  unto  which  we 
promife  all  due  submiffion  and  obedience.  In  wit- 
nes  whereof  we  have  hereunder  fubfcribed  our  names 
at  Cap-Codd  ye  .11.  of  November,  in  ye  year  of  y" 
raigne  of  our  foveraigne  lord  king  James  of  England, 
France,  &  Ireland  ye  eighteenth  and  of  Scotland  ye 
fiftie  fourth.  An0  Dom.  1620. 


In  that  compact  were  the  beginnings  of  American  democ- 
racy as  well  as  of  American  Congregationalism. 

i    TT     j  !_•        They  coasted  around  the  bay,  spending 

Early  Hardships  _.    .  ,    T  .      ,      ,         .,   * 

a  Sunday  at  Clark  s  Island,  where  they 

"  rested  according  to  the  commandment,"  and  finally  con- 
cluded to  settle  at  a  place  which  they  called  "  Plymouth." 
It  was  late  December.  We,  who  are  familiar  with  northern 
winters,  know,  as  they  did  not,  how  grave  was  their  situa- 
tion. They  hastily  built  log  cabins  for  shelter,  made 
friendly  advances  to  the  Indians,  gathered  about  them 
their  scanty  resources  and  began  their  life  in  the  new 
world. 

Serious  sickness  broke  out  among  them  due  to  the  poor 
fare  of  the  long  voyage,  and  before  the  first  year  had  passed 


14  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

a  full  half  of  their  number  were  buried  on  the  shoulder  of 
the  hill  which  overlooks  the  bay.  Their  graves  were  placed 
in  the  roadway,  so  that,  effaced  by  the  tramp  of  feet,  they 
might  not  reveal  to  the  Indians  the  heavy  loss.  Spring 
found  the  survivors  weak  and  burdened  but  undaunted.  In 
April  the  "  Mayflower  "  sailed  away  home,  but  not  a  soul 
went  with  her  save  her  crew. 
,_,  ..,.  The  story  of  the  early  years  at  Plymouth  cannot 

Y  be  told  in  detail  here.     Their  Governor,  John 

Carver,  was  of  the  company  who  died  the  first 
year.  William  Bradford  succeeded  him  and  continued  for 
thirty  years.  He  wrote  an  account  of  the  colony,  which, 
lost  from  sight  for  many  decades,  was  found  in  England, 
finally  restored  to  America,  and  has  been  published  by  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature. 

William  Brewster,  though  unordained,  acted  practically 
as  pastor.  Rev.  John  Lyford,  sent  over  by  their  English 
partners,  proved  of  no  account  and  they  got  rid  of  him  as 
soon  as  they  could.  John  Robinson,  to  their  great  grief, 
did  not  live  to  reach  America,  but  many  others  of  the 
Leyden  colony  came. 

The  colonists  had  in  the  main  friendly  relations  with  the 
Indians,  though  Captain  Myles  Standish  had  to  deal  with 
them  rather  strenuously  at  times.  They  had  frequent 
reenforcements  from  the  old  world,  some  of  whom  proved 
liabilities  rather  than  assets.  Through  it  all  at  the  end  of 
ten  years  (1630),  Plymouth  Colony  was  a  compact  estab- 
lished community  of  three  hundred  people,  with  its  future 
fairly  secure. 

Th    H    'ta         ^°'  *n  t^ie  Prov*dence  °f  God,  out  °f  R°man 

s  g       Catholicism,  out  of  Anglican  conformity, 

out  of  Puritan  protest,  out  of  the  heart  of 

England,  had  come  a  sturdy  band  of  pioneers,  to  build  the 


The  Beginnings  of  Congregationalism  15 

foundations  of  a  new  faith,  to  bequeath  to  us  a  noble 
heritage,  to  mould  the  new  republic  of  the  west.  They  were 
very  human  folk,  but  they  made  a  beginning  remarkable  in 
its  vision  and  power.  Beginnings  last.  Although  many 
potent  forces  have  entered  into  American  life  since  their 
day,  we  must  give  a  primary  place  to  these  early  deeds 
and  thoughts  of  the  Pilgrim  company.  Especially  must 
Congregationalism  recognize  with  reverent  gratitude  that 
whatever  it  has  been  able  to  accomplish  is  rooted  in  that 
early  adventure  of  faith. 


QUESTIONS 

1.  When  did  Puritanism  begin  and  what  was  its  nature? 

2.  What  was  the  "  Act  of  Uniformity  "? 

3.  Outline  the  course  the  Protestant  Reformation  had 
taken. 

4.  What  was  "  Separatism  "? 

5.  What   English   kings   and   prelates   persecuted    the 
Separatists? 

6.  Describe    "  Parish  "    as    related    to       "  Gathered 
Churches." 

7.  Name  five  men  especially  associated  with  the  earliest 
beginnings  of  Congregationalism. 

8.  Give  a  brief  sketch  of  each  one's  relation  to  the 
movement. 

9.  Tell  something  of  the  Scrooby  Church. 

10.  Who  was  John  Robinson  and  what  were  his  charac- 
teristics? 

11.  Name  two  contemporaries  of  Robinson. 

12.  Why  did  the  Puritans  desire  to  leave  Holland? 

13.  Describe  their  journey  to  America. 


16  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

14.  What  was  the  "  Mayflower  Compact  "? 

15.  Where  was  first  permanent  settlement  made? 

16.  Tell  something  of  the  first  year  at  Plymouth. 

17.  State  briefly  the  political  and  religious  importance 
of  the  Puritan  movement. 


CHAPTER  II 
DEVELOPMENT  IN  A  NEW  LAND 

T    ,  ,.  The  hopeful  view  of  Plymouth  Colony 

Isolation  of  the       .  ,      ,  .  ,     ,     ,     .    ,  ,       , 

p..     .  with  which  the  last  chapter  closed  would 

probably  have  seemed  to  indifferent 
observers  of  their  day  rather  absurd.  The  external  cir- 
cumstances were  not  particularly  cheering. 

Three  hundred  people,  well  led,  but  isolated  in  a  great 
wilderness  across  a  stormy  ocean,  with  the  mother  country 
largely  hostile  to  their  whole  program,  with  no  certainty  of 
further  immigration  to  strengthen  their  numbers,  with 
the  natural  tendency  of  strong-minded  people  to  split  up 
into  factions,  with  a  heavy  burden  of  debt,  with  the  danger 
from  Indians,  with  the  rigor  of  the  climate,  the  hardness 
of  the  soil,  and  the  struggles  with  disease  —  on  the  whole, 
it  was  not  an  encouraging  prospect  for  the  little  colony 
at  Plymouth. 

T  T  _,  Fortunately,   as  so  often  in   the   Provi- 

James  I  Proves     ,  ,  ^ ,    ,    ,  .  , 

„    , ,  dence  of  God,  the  unexpected  happened. 

The  stubbornness  of  the  English  crown 
and  the  stupidity  of  the  English  hierarchy  proved  to  be  a 
great  help  in  the  making  of  America.  While  James  I  was 
on  his  way  up  to  London  to  ascend  the  throne  of  England 
in  1603,  seven  hundred  and  fifty  clergymen  of  the  Church 
of  England,  Puritan  in  their  views,  had  ventured  to  address 
him  with  a  petition  looking  toward  a  further  reformation 
of  the  national  church.  They  thought  the  king,  with  his 
Scotch  Calvinistic  training,  would  surely  favor  such  mild 


18  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

changes  as  the  abolition  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  the 
requirement  of  cap  and  surplice,  or  the  revision  of  a  few 
passages  in  the  Prayer  Book.  For  any  change  in  doctrine 
or  government  in  the  church  they  did  not  ask.  But  James 
proved  to  be  a  sort  of  Rehoboam.  He  declared  that  he 
would  make  the  Puritans  "  conform  themselves,  or  harrie 
them  out  of  the  land,  or  else  do  worse."  As  a  result  per- 
haps three  hundred  and  fifty  ministers  were  driven  from 
their  parishes. 

'  the  eighth  year  of  James'  successor, 


A    hV  h 

Charles  I,  William  Laud  was  elevated  to  the 

archbishopric.  There  had  been  strict  Angli- 
cans in  the  archiepiscopal  chair  before,  but  none  whose 
strictness  had  proved  so  costly  to  the  church  of  England. 
Laud  not  only  felt  it  his  duty  to  persecute  nonconformists, 
but  apparently  found  a  brutal  joy  in  doing  it.  In  the  case 
of  one  author,  an  extreme  critic  of  the  established  order, 
Laud  gave  thanks  to  God  that  the  Star  Chamber  had 
sentenced  the  offender  to  degradation  from  the  ministry 
and  life  imprisonment,  besides  a  fine  of  £10,000,  to  which 
was  added  the  pillory,  the  loss  of  both  ears,  the  slitting  of 
his  nose,  and  branding  on  the  cheeks  with  "  S  S  "  (sower  of 
sedition).  Free  speech  was  not  yet  an  accomplished  fact 
in  England! 

_,  TT  In  parishes  where  the  minister  was  non- 

Thomas  Hooker         ., 

resident,   ignorant,   incompetent  or  ob- 

noxious —  a  state  of  affairs  evidently  not  at  all  infrequent  — 
it  had  at  this  time  become  customary  to  permit  a  Puritan 
preacher,  usually  an  ordained  priest  of  the  established 
church,  to  "  lecture  "  Sunday  afternoons  on  some  theme  of 
morals  or  religion.  Against  these  lectureships  Archbishop 
Laud,  to  whom  only  uniformity  of  worship  mattered,  set 
himself. 


Development  in  a  New  Land  19 

One  of  the  men  whom  he  attacked  was  Thomas  Hooker. 
He  was  deposed  from  his  lectureship  at  Chelmsford,  al- 
though forty-nine  of  his  clerical  friends  including  the 
Chelmsford  rector  certified  that  he  was  both  orthodox  and 
peaceable.  Yet  Laud  would  not  even  permit  him  to  teach 
school.  With  the  assistance  of  friends,  who  paid  his 
forfeited  bail  when  he  had  been  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  High  Commission,  Hooker  finally  escaped  to  Holland. 

With  such  men  as  Hooker  hounded  out  of 
The  Puritan  ,  ,  .,  „  .  .  .  .  . 

_      ,  the  land,  the  Puritans  were  increasingly  in- 

clined to  leave  England.  In  1628  John 
Endicott  and  a  small  band  emigrated  and  settled  at  what 
is  now  Salem,  Massachusetts.  The  next  year  a  more 
ambitious  enterprise  was  organized  in  London  called,  "  The 
Governor  and  Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay."  The 
king  granted  them  a  charter,  being  apparently  rather  glad 
to  get  rid  of  troublesome  subjects. 

In  the  company  thus  formed  one  name  stands  out  pre- 
eminent —  John  Winthrop.  Of  remarkable  strength  and 
beauty  of  character,  grave  and  modest,  intelligent  and 
scholarly,  intensely  religious,  yet  for  those  days  liberal  and 
charitable  in  disposition,  Winthrop  at  once  gave  character 
to  this  new  emigration.  Under  his  governorship  the  colony 
was  vigorous  from  the  outset. 

In  the  year  1630  a  thousand  people  in  seventeen  ships 
reached  these  shores,  settling  in  and  near  Boston.  By 
1640,  when  persecutions  ceased  in  England  with  the 
assembling  of  the  Long  Parliament  and  therefore  the 
Puritan  emigration  ceased,  more  than  twenty  thousand  of 
England's  most  capable  citizens  had  crossed  the  ocean  — 
a  migration  unique  in  the  history  of  the  world  for  the 
dignity  of  its  manhood  and  womanhood. 


20  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


Pil    '          d  sett^ers    at    Plymoutn    and    those    at 

p    .  Massachusetts   Bay   belonged   alike   to   the 

Puritan  party.  But  in  their  view  of  church 
organization  there  was  a  sharp  difference.  The  Plymouth 
people  were,  as  we  have  seen,  Separatists,  deeming  the 
mother  church  in  hopeless  error.  The  Boston  and  Salem 
people  did  not  believe  in  Separatism.  They  clung  to  the 
Church  of  England,  desiring  only  to  reform  certain  evils 
within  her.  Naturally  they  were  somewhat  suspicious  of 
the  church  at  Plymouth.  Inasmuch  as  they  were  more 
numerous,  ten  to  one,  with  wealth  and  prestige  thrown  in, 
we  would  expect  that  New  England  Christianity  would  be 
fashioned  according  to  their  ideas.  It  doubtless  would  have 
been  so  fashioned  if  their  ideas  had  not  changed. 

This  is  the  way  the  change  came  about.  There  was 
serious  illness  in  Salem.  Governor  Endicott  appealed  to 
Plymouth  for  medical  aid.  Dr.  Samuel  Fuller,  deacon  of 
the  Pilgrim  church,  was  sent  to  help.  As  he  helped,  Fuller 
was  a  sort  of  medical  missionary  of  the  Pilgrim  way.  All 
those  who  talked  with  him  discovered  that  Separatism  as 
practiced  at  Plymouth  was  by  no  means  so  dangerous  as 
they  had  supposed.  Moreover,  England  was  far  away. 
The  exigencies  of  practical  situations  at  once  arose.  Out 
there  in  the  wilderness  these  colonists  found  it  natural  to 
choose  their  own  church  officers,  set  aside  their  own  min- 
istry, conduct  their  worship  as  they  chose,  and  inflict  such 
discipline  as  seemed  to  them  fitting.  As  John  Robinson 
had  predicted,  when  once  out  of  reach  of  the  establish- 
ment, Puritan  and  Separatist  were  no  longer  distinguish- 
able. 

„.  In  1629  the  Salem  church  was  organized 

Salem  Church       ....  ,         ,         ,       ,,. 

with    thirty   members   bound   under   this 

simple  covenant: 


Development  in  a  New  Land  21 

"  We  Covenant  with  the  Lord  and  with  one  an- 
other; and  doe  bynd  ourselves  in  the  presence  of 
God,  to  walke  together  in  all  his  waies,  accord- 
ing as  he  is  pleased  to  reveale  himself  unto  us  in 
his  Blessed  word  of  truth." 

Thus  they  illustrated  the  Separatist  principle  by  admitting 
only  those  who  professed  to  have  a  Christian  experience. 

That  same  summer  several  ministers  were  sent  out  from 
England  and  two  of  these  were  solemnly  chosen  as  pastor 
and  teacher.  Subsequently  they  were  duly  ordained  by  the 
"  imposission  of  hands  "  by  "  ye  gravest  members,"  "  using 
prayer  therewith." 

To  realize  how  revolutionary  this  was  we  must  remember 
that  both  these  men  had  been  ordained  in  England  by 
bishops  who  professed  to  be  in  the  unbroken  line  of  descent 
from  the  Apostles.  And  here  they  were  kneeling  to  be 
ordained  again  and  that,  too,  by  the  laymen  of  the  church! 
Incidentally  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  on  this  occasion 
Bradford  and  others  arrived  tardily  from  Plymouth,  in 
time  to  "  extend  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  "  —  the  first 
instance  of  that  characteristic  custom  of  our  modern 
denominational  life. 
TT  -f  -j-.  And  now  these  men  who  had  fled  from  in- 

i     tolerance  showed  themselves  intolerant.  When 

Reversed          e        ,  •    ,     ,       .  .        •    • «  j  1 1.  i 

a    few   kindred    spirits   decided    to   establish 

separate  services  with  the  use  of  the  Prayer  Book  and  the 
English  liturgy  they  were  promptly  bundled  off  to  England 
as  disturbers!  One  can  easily  find  reasons  for  this  act. 
He  can  even  believe  that  it  saved  the  colony  from  worse 
divisions  later.  But  it  is  not  a  pleasant  thing  to 
think  of. 

Conformity  now  meant  the  Puritan  type  of  worship.     In 


22  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

the  royal  charter  nothing  had  been  said  about  religious 
liberty.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  colonists  did  not  want  it. 
They  were  glad  to  be  left  free  to  solve  their  problems  in 
their  own  way.  This  they  did  by  substituting  for  a  state 
church  in  which  Puritans  were  nonconformists,  a  church 
state  in  which  Anglicans  were  treated  as  nonconformists. 
The  people  in  England  complained  bitterly.  But  the 
colonists  held  on  their  way. 

S  ttlin  f  *n  164°  more  than  thirty  churches  had 
P  rt  f  sprung  up  in  eastern  Massachusetts.  Among 

these  were  the  churches  of  Dorchester  and 
Newtown  (now  Cambridge) .  The  pastor  of  the  latter  was 
Thomas  Hooker,  whom  we  have  already  seen  driven  into 
Holland.  His  people  were  a  prosperous  and  vigorous  folk. 
Before  long  they  began  to  feel  the  characteristic  American 
desire  to  "  go  West."  One  would  think  that  with  an  end- 
less stretch  of  virgin  forest  at  their  doors  they  would  not 
have  felt  the  need  of  any  more  frontier  than  they  had.  But 
they  had  learned  of  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Connecticut. 
By  contrast  with  eastern  Massachusetts  it  was  inviting. 

Moreover,  there  was  probably  some  restlessness  on  the 
part  of  Hooker  and  his  associates  because  of  the  dominating 
influence  around  Massachusetts  Bay  of  John  Winthrop  and 
his  minister,  John  Cotton.  There  was  a  difference  in 
judgment  about  the  order  of  the  church,  the  Cambridge 
people  desiring  more  of  democracy.  So  in  1636,  permission 
being  obtained  from  the  General  dourt,  Hooker  and  almost 
his  entire  church  migrated  to  Hartford,  Connecticut.  At 
about  the  same  time  many  from  the  Dorchester  Church 
removed  to  Windsor,  Connecticut.  It  was  a  brave  piece 
of  pioneering.  There  must  have  been  some  heavy  and 
doubtful  hearts  as  they  trudged  through  the  forests  with 
keen-eyed  Indians  watching  their  journey.  But  it  was  a 


Development  in  a  New  Land  23 

step  big  with  meaning  for  the  coming  nation,  as  we  shall 

see  later. 

N       H  In   1637   Rev.   John   Davenport,   a  London 

c  .  minister  driven  out  via  Holland,  as  Hooker 

had  been,  landed  in  Boston  with  a  con- 
siderable company.  Here  the  winter  was  spent ;  but  being 
desirous  of  working  out  their  own  form  of  government, 
they  removed  in  1638  to  found  the  New  Haven  Colony. 
Davenport  and  his  associates  were  perfectly  sure  that  the 
"  Scriptures  doe  hold  forth  a  perfect  rule  for  the  direction 
and  government  of  all  men."  This  theoretic  view  of  church 
and  state  they  worked  out  as  fully  as  they  were  able.  They 
limited  the  franchise  to  church  members,  Davenport  con- 
tending that  this  was  as  good  a  test  of  competence  to  make 
right  use  of  political  privileges  as  could  be  found. 

These  "  free  planters  "  had  a  unique  method  of  forming 
their  church.  First  they  chose  twelve  electors,  who  in 
turn  chose  seven  men  from  their  own  number  as  the  first 
members  of  the  church.  When,  in  1665,  by  order  of 
Charles  II,  the  New  Haven  Colony  was  joined  with  Con- 
necticut Colony  (Hartford)  as  a  punishment  for  having 
harbored  two  of  the  judges  who  condemned  Charles  I  to 
death,  its  peculiar  features  including  the  restriction  of  the 
franchise  passed  away.  To  Davenport,  who  had  publicly 
counselled  the  protection  of  the  fugitives  in  a  sermon  on 
the  text,  "  Hide  the  outcasts  .  .  .  ,"  this  meant  that  the 
colony  had  fallen  under  a  "  Christless  rule."  He  was  glad 
to  return  to  Boston  to  end  his  days.  Later  Cotton  Mather 
wrote  of  him,  "  Yet,  after  all,  the  Lord  gave  him  to  see 
that  in  this  world  a  church  state  was  impossible,  whereinto 
there  enters  nothing  that  defiles." 

Roger  Williams    A  pioneer  community  attracts  radicals 
and  oddities.     The  colonists  had   their 


24  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

share.  They  were  unwelcome  not  only  because  they  were 
disturbers  but  because  the  well-poised  men  who  founded 
New  England  particularly  disliked  fanatics.  One  of  these 
trouble-makers  was  Roger  Williams.  His  place  in  our 
country's  history  is  secure  because  he  was  the  first  advocate 
of  full  religious  liberty.  He  was  an  ardent  soul  and  only 
missed  large  usefulness  by  lack  of  balance.  But  all  this  is 
easier  to  see  and  say  now  than  it  was  then.  Williams  was 
a  universal  critic  and  had  gifts  of  speech  with  which  to 
express  his  criticisms.  The  magistrates,  ministers,  laws, 
opinions  and  everything  else  in  the  colony  were  wrong. 
One  of  his  favorite  phrases  was,  "  full  of  anti-Christian 
pollution." 

He  was  at  first  in  Plymouth,  where  he  struck  Governor 
Bradford  as  a  man  "  godly  and  zealous,  having  many 
precious  parts,  but  very  unsettled  in  judgment."  Then  he 
became  pastor  of  the  Salem  church.  Here  he  stirred  up 
trouble  which  spread  up  and  down  the  coast  until  finally 
the  authorities  sentenced  him  to  banishment.  He  fell  ill 
and  was  allowed  to  stay  through  the  winter,  provided  he 
would  stop  talking.  He  did  not  stop  and  the  sentence  was 
enforced.  He  lived  among  the  Indians  for  a  while  and  then 
became  the  founder  of  what  is  now  Providence,  Rhode 
Island.  He  developed  Baptist  opinions  and  was  immersed, 
afterward  immersing  the  man  who  immersed  him!  Then 
he  concluded  "  that  their  baptism  could  not  be  right  because 
it  was  not  administered  by  an  apostle."  So  the  rest  of  his 
life  he  was  in  suspense  of  mind,  believing  that  things  could 
not  be  put  right  without  some  new  revelation. 

__  ,  ,  .  Somewhat  similar  was  the  case  of  Mrs. 

Anne  Hutchmson     A         TT      ,  .  01  ,  ,       , 

Anne  Hutchmson.  She  and  her  hus- 
band had  come  to  Boston,  Massachusetts,  from  Boston, 
England,  with  Rev.  John  Cotton.  She  was  a  woman  of 


Development  in  a  New  Land  25 

strong  personality,  a  skilful  nurse,  an  eloquent  lecturer,  a 
believer  in  "  perfectionism,"  and,  like  Williams,  an  all- 
round  critic.  She  gathered  quite  a  party  about  her, 
among  them  young  Henry  Vane,  for  a  time  Governor  of  the 
colony.  All  sorts  of  friction  sprang  up  concerning  her  and 
her  teachings. 

In  1637  a  Synod  (what  we  now  call  an  Advisory  Council) 
was  assembled  to  consider  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  case.  This 
was  a  significant  assembly  as  being  the  beginning  of  a 
custom  widely  used  in  Congregationalism  ever  since.  It 
condemned  all  her  distinctive  teachings.  She  remained 
obdurate  and  claimed  to  have  a  direct  divine  revelation  to 
support  her.  The  authorities  took  hold  of  the  matter  and 
she  was  banished.  She  went  with  her  family  down  to 
Rhode  Island  and  afterwards  to  the  Dutch  settlement  at 
New  York,  where  she  was  murdered  by  the  Indians. 

The  cases  just  described  reveal  both  the  intensity  of 
religious  feeling  in  those  days  and  the  fact  that  full  liberty 
of  thought  and  speech  was  not  yet  conceived  possible  or 
desirable.  We  can  only  say  for  the  colonists  that  their 
dealing  with  disturbers  was  gentle  compared  to  the  custom 
of  the  time. 

Qua^er  movement  in  England  started 


Th    O     k 

'  by  John  Fox  was  remarkable.     Its  asser- 

tion of  the  privilege  and  duty  of  living  under  the  direct 
illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit  put  emphasis  upon  a  long 
neglected  New  Testament  truth.  The  influence  of  the 
Quakers  upon  all  denominations  of  Christian  people  has 
been  wide  and  profound.  But  in  its  beginning  Quaker- 
ism, like  many  another  ism,  was  accompanied  by  many 
extravagances. 

Some  of  its  adherents  migrating  to  Boston  came  into 
collision  with  the  established  order.     Just  how  violent  their 


26  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

criticisms  were  at  the  outset  we  do  not  know.  Dr.  Williston 
Walker  remarks  that  they  were  perhaps  increased  by  the 
repressive  measures  adopted.  Anyhow,  before  the  episode 
was  over  (in  Dr.  Walker's  words),  "  much  that  they  did 
would  if  done  in  our  own  day  have  brought  them  before 
the  police  court  and  into  examination  as  to  mental  sanity." 
After  much  reviling  of  magistrates  and  laws,  they  were 
banished.  They  came  back  with  new  revilings.  At  last 
—  must  it  be  told  —  three  men  and  one  woman  were  sent 
to  the  gallows.  The  colonists  speedily  grew  ashamed  of 
such  methods.  There  was  general  satisfaction  when  in 
1691  full  freedom  of  worship  was  granted. 

nT-4.  t,      **     The  history  of  belief  in  witchcraft  is  a  curious 

witcncrait  .  ,  _,,      ,    ,.  - 

one,   too  long  to  recount  here.      The   belief 

has  not  been  confined  to  any  land  or  religion  or  age.  The 
essential  feature  of  it  is  the  idea  that  a  person  may  enter 
into  alliance  with  an  evil  spirit  in  such  way  as  to  be  morally 
guilty  for  acts  done  under  the  prompting  of  that  spirit. 

The  colonists  did  not  escape  the  delusion.  Twenty 
persons  were  executed  in  Salem  in  1692.  But  the  panic 
quickly  passed.  Judge  Samuel  Sewall,  one  of  the  court 
which  tried  the  "  witches,"  publicly  acknowledged  his  error 
and  entreated  forgiveness.  In  later  years  money  was  voted 
to  the  families  of  the  victims.  These  Puritan  pioneers 
belonged  to  their  time,  but  they  escaped  from  the  bondage 
of  its  superstition  more  quickly  than  others. 

We  have  spoken  of  some  of  the  unhappy 
Colleges  and      ,  .        .          ,     -T       „     ,      ,  ...       T    5 
_  T'  things  in  early  New  England  life.     Let  us 

turn  to  the  things  which  gave  it  dignity  and 
power.  First,  we  note  that  among  the  earliest  New 
Englanders  there  was  a  large  proportion  of  university 
graduates.  As  a  consequence  there  was  a  consuming 
passion  for  education.  In  1636,  a  year  when  Indians 


Development  in  a  New  Land  27 

threatened,  when  the  home  government  was  peculiarly 
hostile,  and  dissensions  were  rife  among  the  colonists,  the 
Massachusetts  General  Court  appropriated  £400  toward 
the  establishment  of  a  college.  When  John  Harvard  left 
his  library  and  half  of  his  estate  to  this  new  institution  it 
was  promptly  given  his  name.  The  name  of  the  town 
where  it  was  located,  Newtown,  was  at  the  same  time 
changed  to  Cambridge  in  honor  of  the  homeland  university 
where  for  many  years  Puritanism  had  been  rife. 

This  was  the  first  time  in  history  that  a  place  of  educa- 
tion was  founded  by  the  vote  of  the  people's  money  through 
their  representatives.  But  it  was  the  firm  foundation  for 
a  new  policy.  Yale  was  founded  in  1701.  The  year 
before  a  number  of  ministers  gathering  at  Branford,  Con- 
necticut, brought  books,  each  one  saying  as  he  laid  his 
contribution  on  the  table,  "  I  give  these  books  for  the 
founding  of  a  college  in  this  colony."  The  number  of 
volumes  that  thus  made  a  beginning  for  the  Yale  Library 
was  forty! 

Still  more  important  was  the  development  of  grammar 
school  education.  The  citizen  church  members  of  those 
days  had  been  brought  up  on  the  Bible  in  the  vernacular, 
and  they  wanted  their  children  to  be  able  to  read  it.  One 
of  the  first  acts  of  the  colonists  in  each  instance  was  to 
provide  for  public  primary  and  grammar  schools.  These 
were  instituted  in  Massachusetts  in  1647  and  in  Connecticut 
three  years  later.  As  the  colleges  were  founded  to  recruit 
the  New  England  ministry,  so  the  elementary  schools  were 
established  to  defeat  "  one  cheife  project  of  ye  ould  deluder 
Satan,  to  keepe  men  from  knowledge  of  ye  Scriptures." 

-,.  A  second  significant  aspect  of  this  early 

Missions  to  the     ,,      «-.«_««•*          ... 

j    ,.  New  England  life  was  its  missionary  zeal. 

A  letter  from  the  Governor  of  the  Massa- 


28  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

chusetts  Bay  Company  to  Governor  Endicott  had  reminded 
the  colonists  of  "  the  main  end  of  our  plantation,  to  bring 
the  Indians  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel."  It  was  the 
rule  of  the  Puritans  to  purchase  their  lands  from  the  In- 
dians that  had  formerly  occupied  them.  The  only  excep- 
tion was  in  the  case  of  the  Pequot  War,  which  opened  up 
the  Connecticut  coast. 

In  1643  Thomas  Mayhew  is  discovered  doing  missionary 
work  among  the  natives  of  Nantucket  and  Martha's  Vine- 
yard. Finding  them  loath  to  give  up  thirty-seven  deities 
for  one,  Mayhew  finally  persuaded  them  that  God  was 
greater  than  all  their  manitous!  Their  children  learned  to 
read  and  write,  and  simple  courts  were  set  up  with  the  right 
of  appeal  to  the  court  of  Plymouth. 

In  Massachusetts  it  was  agreed  in  1646  that  the  elders 
should  choose  two  persons  each  year  to  spread  the  Gospel 
among  the  Indians.  In  1649  Parliament  established  the 
"  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  New  England."  In 
1665  one  lone  Indian  graduated  from  Harvard.  The  first 
pupil  of  an  Indian  school,  which  in  1769  developed  into 
Dartmouth  College,  was  the  picturesque  Indian  preacher, 
Samson  Occom,  a  Mohegan,  who  was  welcomed  in  many 
English  as  well  as  American  pulpits,  and  who  was  success- 
ful in  gathering  considerable  funds  in  England  for  the 
institution. 

_  ,  „.  John  Eliot,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  England, 
came  to  Massachusetts  in  1631.  He  was 
settled  as  pastor  at  Roxbury  and  remained  there  all  his  life. 
A  great-hearted,  devoted  man,  he  was  profoundly  stirred 
by  the  sight  of  the  pagan  Indians  about  him.  In  the  midst 
of  his  pastoral  duties  he  mastered  the  Algonquin  language. 
Fourteen  years  of  patient  toil  it  cost  him.  To  this  he  added 
the  incredible  labor  of  creating  a  grammar  of  the  language 


Development  in  a  New  Land  29 

and  translating  the  Bible.  After  long  effort  funds  were 
secured  to  print  it.  A  copy  may  be  seen  in  the  library  of 
Harvard  College,  but  it  is  many  a  decade  since  there  was 
anyone  who  could  read  it.  It  seems  like  wasted  labor. 
We  have  an  idea  that  the  great  Master  will  know  how  to 
reward  those  lonely  burdened  years  through  which  Eliot 
wrought  in  his  labor  of  love. 

In  1646  he  began  preaching  among  the  Indians,  whom 
he  believed  descendants  of  the  "  lost  tribes  "  of  Israel. 
Some  of  them  he  gathered  into  villages  where  they  might 
have  the  advantages  of  a  simple  Christian  civilization.  In 
1660  there  were  fourteen  such  villages  and  in  1674  the 
number  of  "  Praying  Indians  "  had  reached  4,000.  But 
disappointments  and  defeats  came  in  quick  succession. 
The  tribes  converted  by  Eliot  were  among  the  smallest  and 
weakest.  The  colonization  of  the  Indian  villages  was  re- 
garded by  other  tribes  as  having  some  unfriendly  purpose. 
To  them  to  be  civilized  meant  to  be  subjugated.  In  the 
reign  of  terror  during  King  Philip's  War  some  of  the  "Pray- 
ing Indians  "  reverted  to  savagery. 

At  the  end  of  that  costly  strife  the  Indian  had  disappeared 
from  central  and  southern  New  England  forever.  A  cen- 
tury later  the  aborigines  of  New  England  were  practically 
extinct.  Greatly  crippled,  the  work  finally  lapsed  for 
want  of  a  field  to  evangelize.  But  John  Eliot's  name  is 
secure.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  grammar  he  had  written, 
"  Prayers  and  pains  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  will  do 
anything."  Cotton  Mather  wrote,  "  I  was  never  with  him 
but  I  got  or  might  have  got  good  from  him." 

TM.    TT  tr  A  third  development  —  that  of  doctrine  — 

The  Halfway  ...... 

c  must  be  examined  in  its  historic  setting. 

The  Congregationalism  of  the  latter  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century  was  characterized  by  a  declining  re- 


30  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

ligious  enthusiasm.  The  children  of  the  first  and  second  gen- 
erations were,  of  course,  baptized  in  infancy  as  partakers  of 
the  covenant.  But  many  of  these  children  grew  up  without 
the  "  religious  experience  "  which  was  held  to  be  evidence 
of  a  "  regenerate  "  life  and  the  prerequisite  for  church 
membership.  Hence  they  were  excluded  from  the  Lord's 
Supper.  When  children  were  born  to  these  persons  the 
question  arose  —  can  the  children  of  moral  parents  receive 
Christian  baptism,  if  the  parents  themselves  have  not  been 
"  born  again  "? 

Godly  grandparents  were  influential  in  securing  an  affirm- 
ative answer  to  this  question.  The  arrangement  which  per- 
mitted such  baptism  was  called  "  The  Halfway  Covenant." 
It  was  an  interesting  feature  of  the  development  of  Con- 
gregationalism. Endless  controversies  arose  concerning  it. 
It  was  one  of  the  chief  subjects  considered  by  a  remarkable 
gathering  called  "  The  Reforming  Synod,"  held  in  1679. 
But  the  story  is  too  long  for  this  handbook.  It  will  be 
found  in  any  of  the  larger  histories  of  the  time. 

T  _  ,  In  1723,  when  Increase  Mather  died, 

Jonathan  Edwards     ,       ,     ,       ,     .      ,        ..    ,   A.      «  • 

he  deplored  the  fact  that  the  in- 
terest of  New  England  seems  to  be  changed  from  a  religious 
to  a  worldly  one."  This  feeling  was  shared  by  many. 
Failing  in  an  effort  to  secure  the  calling  of  another  synod, 
the  ministers  were  at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  go  about  the 
bettering  of  the  situation.  Help  came  from  an  unexpected 
quarter.  Early  in  1727  Jonathan  Edwards  was  ordained 
as  a  colleague  of  his  famous  grandfather,  Solomon  Stoddard, 
at  Northampton,  Massachusetts.  The  first  eight  years  of 
his  ministry  appear  not  to  have  been  noteworthy.  Mr. 
Stoddard  was  one  of  those  who  warmly  favored  the  "  Half- 
way Covenant."  Edwards  did  not  at  first  oppose  these 
and  like  views.  But  before  he  was  done  he  set  himself 


Development  in  a  New  Land  31 

against  them  with  all  the  force  of  his  profound  convictions. 

_,     ,,  ,  ,.,..       At   this   distance   Jonathan    Edwards 

The  Man  and  His      ,.  0    .  J       , 

_-.  chiefly  impresses  most  of  us  as  a  severe 

personality.  We  judge  him  largely  by 
the  title  of  one  of  his  sermons  —  "  Sinners  in  the  Hands  of 
an  Angry  God."  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  was  a  man  gifted 
with  a  vivid  imagination,  overawed  by  the  sense  of  God's 
holiness.  He  thought  of  himself  as  an  abject,  hopeless 
sinner,  absolutely  dependent  on  God's  grace  in  Christ. 
Except  for  Christ's  death  he  saw  himself  in  the  midst  of 
hell,  to  which  all  the  non-elect  were  to  be  assigned.  In  joy 
over  his  own  deliverance,  he  ceaselessly  urged  men  to  accept 
God's  mercy  as  revealed  in  the  Cross.  The  sermons  which 
seem  to  us  cruel  were  uttered  with  a  passion  of  eager  love 
which  melted  all  hearts. 
_.  p  By  the  end  of  1734  Edwards'  influence  began 

to  be  strongly  felt.     Several  remarkable  con- 
Awakening  .  XT      i  i-  •       Di- 
versions at  Northampton  made  religion  the 

talk  of  the  town.  That  winter  many  meetings  were  held 
in  private  houses  for  prayer  and  religious  conversation. 
The  fire  kindled  in  Northampton  spread  to  other  places. 
Presently  western  New  England  was  in  the  midst  of  what 
came  to  be  known  as  "  The  Great  Awakening." 

The  knowledge  of  it  went  out  over  the  world.  In  Eng- 
land and  Scotland  people  eagerly  read  Edwards'  "  Narrative 
of  Surprising  Conversions."  The  Wesleyan  revival  was 
then  just  beginning  in  England.  George  Whitefield,  at 
first  associated  with  the  Wesleys,  had  separated  from  them 
and  now  came  to  America  to  help  on  the  work  begun  by 
Edwards.  He  was  already  famous,  though  but  twenty-six 
years  old.  He  was  warmly  welcomed  and  all  New  England 
was  soon  in  the  midst  of  a  period  of  revival.  Extraordinary 
enthusiasm  was  produced  by  his  glowing  eloquence.  His 


32  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

journeys  were  a  long  succession  of  triumphs.  Everywhere 
large  numbers  were  converted  under  his  appeals.  Five 
different  times  Whitefield  came  to  America  for  evangelistic 
work.  On  his  last  trip,  in  1770,  he  died.  His  grave  may  be 
seen  at  Newburyport,  Massachusetts. 

_,  No  reliable  estimate  can  be  made  of  the 

Results  to  the  .  . ,      ,       ,       ,     .      . , 

p.        .  accessions  to  the  churches  during  the  years 

1735-42  as  a  result  of  "The  Great  Awaken- 
ing." But  beyond  any  question  there  was  a  wonderful 
increase  in  the  strength  of  the  New  England  churches. 
Congregationalism  was  being  made  ready  for  the  test  of 
the  Revolutionary  War  and  the  great  tasks  which  lay 
beyond. 

-. ,,  _,  ..  Like  most  men  of  high  wrought  emotional 
Other  Results  „,,  .  r  , , 

natures,  Whitefield  was  not  an  easy  man 

to  live  with.  One  of  his  defects  was  censoriousness.  He 
saw  everything  so  clearly  and  felt  it  so  keenly  that  he  had 
no  patience  with  those  who  did  not  see  the  same  things  and 
feel  in  like  way.  Naturally  the  ministers  received  drastic 
criticism  at  his  hands.  Just  as  naturally  they  did  not 
enjoy  it.  Weaker  men  copied  his  manners  and  methods  and 
made  matters  worse.  The  net  result  was  that  two  parties 
were  developed.  Those  in  favor  of  revivals  of  the  White- 
field  type  were  nicknamed,  "  New  Lights,"  those  opposed, 
"  Old  Lights." 

All  this,  of  course,  intensified  the  controversy  about  the 
"  Halfway  Covenant."  Under  Edwards'  influence  the 
tendency  for  which  it  stood  was  checked  and  the  old  em- 
phasis on  regeneration  widely  restored.  Other  sharp 
theological  issues  began  to  arise.  We  are  at  the  begin- 
nings of  a  cleavage  which  years  later  will  give  us  two 
parties,  "  Orthodox  "  and  "  Unitarian." 


Development  in  a  New  Land  33 

Edwards'  revolt  from  the  "  Stoddardean  " 
Edwards  as  a  ,A  ,  .  ,  .  ,.  .  ,  , 

_«  .  system  resulted  in  his  dismissal  from  the 

Northampton  church  in  1750.  How  amus- 
ing and  how  tragic!  This  pure-hearted  saint,  one  of  the 
profoundest  thinkers  the  world  had  produced,  was  driven 
from  his  parish  and  forced  to  settle  in  the  little  church  at 
Stockbridge,  where  he  was  also  a  missionary  to  the  Housa- 
tonic  Indians.  For  seven  years  he  continued  there.  He 
was  then  called  to  the  presidency  of  Princeton  College,  but 
died  just  as  he  was  beginning  his  work. 

Those  years  on  the  frontier  proved  a  great  blessing  to 
Edwards  and  to  the  world.  There  he  produced  a  number 
of  volumes  of  moment,  among  them  (1754)  his  famous 
treatise  on  "  The  Freedom  of  the  Will."  It  is  no  part  of 
our  concern  to  investigate  his  doctrinal  works  in  detail. 
In  the  main  they  expound  a  modified  Calvinism  which 
sought  to  foster  a  warm,  emotional  type  of  Christian 
character.  Edwards  defined  sin  in  terms  of  voluntary 
action,  and  virtue  as  unselfish  benevolence.  His  successors 
took  up  and  finished  the  work  cut  short  by  his  death. 
Under  Nathanael  Emmons  and  Timothy  Dwight,  respec- 
tively, two  sub-schools  took  their  rise,  the  former  a  stricter, 
the  latter  a  more  moderate  Calvinism. 

The  Herita  e  For  a  century  and  a  half  the  pilgrim  waY 
TUT  •  x  •  j  had  proved  a  good  way.  Cities  and  com- 
Mamtamed  , 

monwealths  had  been  founded  in  the  fear 

of  God.  Great  problems  had  been  faced  and  conquered. 
Great  truths  had  been  wrought  into  the  structure  of  the 
new  world.  Men  of  integrity,  of  moral  passion  and  of 
steady  purpose  had  determined  the  trend  of  the  life  of  the 
nation  in  church  and  state. 

We  have  thus  reached  the  point  where  we  are  ready  to 


34  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

study  the  fundamental  principles  on  which  has  been  built 
that  America 

"  beautiful  for  Pilgrim  feet 
Whose  stern  impassioned  stress 
A  thoroughfare  for  freedom  beat 
Across  the  wilderness." 

QUESTIONS 

1.  Tell  of  the  difficulties  facing  the  Pilgrims  at  Plym- 
outh. 

2.  What  effect  did  the  incoming  of  a  new  king  in  Eng- 
land have  on  the  colony? 

3.  Characterize  Archbishop  Laud. 

4.  Who  was  Thomas  Hooker? 

5.  Tell  of  the  founding  of  Salem  and  Boston. 

6.  How  were  John  Endicott  and  John  Winthrop  related 
to  the  movement? 

7.  Differentiate  between  Pilgrim  and  Puritan. 

8.  When  was  the  Salem  church  organized  and  who  was 
eligible  to  membership? 

9.  Speak  of  the  new  intolerance  that  arose. 

10.  Tell  of  the  settling  of  Connecticut. 

11.  What  led  to  the  founding  of  the  New  Haven  Colony? 

12.  Tell  something  of  Roger  Williams  and  Anne  Hutch- 
inson. 

13.  Speak  of  the  Quaker  movement. 

14.  Name  two  colleges  that  were  organized  early  and 
tell  something  of  their  founding. 

15.  What  other  educational  provisions  were  made? 

16.  Tell  something  of  the  achievements  of  John  Elliot 
and  other  activities  in  missions  to  the  Indians. 

17.  Describe  the  "  Halfway  Covenant." 


Development  in  a  New  Land  35 

18.  Tell  what  you  know  of    Jonathan  Edwards  —  the 
man,  his  message,  his  theology. 

19.  What  was  the  "Great  Awakening"  and   what  were 
its  results  on  the  church? 

20.  Speak  of  the  revival  under  Whitefield. 

21.  What  had  been  accomplished  in  the  first  150  years? 


CHAPTER   III 
DEMOCRACY  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE 

~  ,      Students  of  history  are  entirely  agreed  that 

_  American     democratic     institutions     are     in 

large  measure  traceable  to  the  influence  of 
the  early  New  England  settlers.  In  Virginia  there  was 
another  exceedingly  influential  center  of  democratic  senti- 
ment. But  its  harmonious  development  was  prevented 
by  various  causes,  notably  the  continuance  of  slavery. 

We  are  now  to  trace  the  process  by  which  democracy 
found  itself  and  became  a  power  in  New  England.  We 
shall  find  that  it  was  by  no  means  simple.  A  variety  of 
forces,  in  some  cases  antagonistic  to  one  another,  were  at 
work.  Out  of  it  all  it  came  to  pass  that  the  beginnings 
of  the  nation  and  of  American  Congregationalism  moved 
on  parallel  lines  toward  the  democratic  ideal,  an  ideal 
which  has  been  defined  as  the  effort  to  "  let  all  the 
people  you  can,  into  all  the  things  you  can,  in  all  the 
ways  you  can,  to  the  utmost  measure  you  can." 
-y  It  is  easy  to  overestimate  the  amount  of 

.  _.        '     democratic  conviction  which  these  early  Puri- 
of  Vision  .  ,  .        .         ™. 

tans  brought  with   them   to  America,      ihose 

settling  at  Plymouth  were  beyond  doubt  awake  to  the 
subject  so  far  as  the  ordering  of  their  own  little  com- 
munity was  concerned.  The  "  Mayflower  Compact  "  is  de- 
cisive on  that  point.  Just  how  far  they  saw  the  larger 
meanings  of  the  policy  then  adopted  we  cannot  tell. 


Democracy  in  Church  and  State  37 

With  the  Massachusetts  Bay  people  there  were  decided 
forces  pressing  the  other  way.  John  Cotton,  minister  of 
the  First  Church  in  Boston,  said  as  late  as  1636  that 
democracy  was  not  "  a  fit  government  eyther  for  church 
or  commonwealth.  If  the  people  be  governors  who  shall 
be  governed."  We  have  ample  evidence  that  he  spoke 
for  many,  probably  for  the  majority.  In  other  words, 
they  brought  over  from  England  the  type  of  democratic 
thought  prevalent  there. 

Mr.  Gladstone  says,  "  All  that  was  democratic  in  the 
policy  of  England  .  .  .  they  carried  with  them  in  pro- 
nounced and  exclusive  forms  to  a  soil  and  a  scene  singu- 
larly fitted  for  their  growth."  Mr.  Gladstone  evidently 
thinks  of  the  England  of  that  day  as  possessing  much 
more  democracy  than  it  really  had.  The  latter  part  of 
the  quotation  contains  the  important  fact.  The  partially 
developed  democracy  which  emigrated  came  into  condi- 
tions remarkably  favorable  for  its  growth. 

«..    .    .  T»  About    1688    William    Stoughton    wrote, 

Kind  of  People     ,,  ~    ,    .r     ,  .      .         . 

God  silted  a  whole  nation  in  order  that 

he  might  send  choice  grain  into  the  wilderness."     This 
was  true,  but  in  what  sense? 

First  of  all  these  pioneers  were  remarkably  homogeneous. 
Drawn  almost  exclusively  from  England  down  to  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  they  represented  that  solid, 
thrifty,  industrious,  aspiring,  middle  class  of  Eng- 
land's population  which  has  made  her  a  conspicuous 
nation  for  many  a  century  past.  They  possessed  her 
blending  of  the  conservative  and  progressive  spirit.  They 
knew  how  to  cling  to  the  old  until  they  had  a  firm  grip 
on  the  new.  Above  all,  they  had  a  religious  faith  at  once 
enlightened  and  reverent,  well-balanced  and  profound. 
Add  to  this  the  fact  that  they  left  England  for  the  sake 


38  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

of  their  convictions  and  you  have  a  fair  picture  of  these 
self-reliant  men  and  women  whose  story  we  are  studying. 
A  F'  t  St  T^e  colonists  womd  never  have  gone  far 
toward  democracy  if  they  had  remained 
contented  dependencies  of  England.  The  stupidity  of 
her  kings  and  statesmen  saved  America  from  that  peril. 
Almost  immediately  they  began  to  concoct  repressive 
measures.  In  1635  they  decided  to  send  out  a  royal  gov- 
ernor for  New  England,  and  to  create  a  special  commis- 
sion to  have  oversight  of  colonial  affairs  with  Archbishop 
Laud  as  its  head.  The  first  demand  was  that  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  Colony  send  its  charter  home.  The  minis- 
ters of  the  churches  were  asked  for  advice.  Their  answer 
was  quickly  ready.  "  We  ought,"  said  they,  "  to  defend 
our  lawful  possessions  if  we  are  able."  Governor  Win- 
throp,  who  had  so  wisely  led  the  colony  from  the  be- 
ginning, agreed  with  them,  declaring  that  if  it  became 
necessary  to  renounce  the  authority  of  Parliament  they 
would  be  justified  in  doing  so.  Preparations  were  made 
for  armed  resistance. 

But  a  turn  in  England's  affairs  came  and  she  gave  up 
her  Commission  plan.  A  few  years  later  Charles  I  was 
beheaded  and  the  Parliament  and  Oliver  Cromwell  came 
into  power.  This  meant  that  affairs  on  both  sides  the 
Atlantic  were  under  the  control  of  the  Puritan  party. 
But  aside  from  that  fact  the  break  had  been  made  when 
the  colonists  decided  to  resist.  The  principle  of  home  rule 
thus  asserted  was  a  stepping-stone  to  democracy. 

Thoroughgoing  democracy  became  estab- 
n  '  lished  in  church  life  but  slowly.  We  have 

seen  that  at  Salem  and  elsewhere  they 
adopted  promptly  the  idea  of  selecting  and  ordaining 
their  own  ministers.  This  was  a  vigorous  start  in  the 


Democracy  in  Church  and  State  39 

right  direction.  But  they  could  not  get  out  of  their 
minds  the  ancient  idea  that  somebody  must  be  put  in  an 
independent  position  of  authority.  The  theory  at  first 
was  that  a  church  should  have  one  minister  called 
"  Pastor,"  another  called  "  Teacher,"  and  an  official 
known  as  a  "  Ruling  Elder,"  in  addition  to  "  Deacons  " 
and  "  Deaconesses."  The  underlying  thought  was  that 
this  rather  elaborate  staff  of  officials  should  constitute  a 
controlling  body  which  should  settle  many  questions  for 
the  church.  To  quote  John  Cotton  once  more,  "  The 
Gospel  alloweth  no  church  authority  (or  rule  properly  so- 
called)  to  the  brethren  but  reserveth  that  wholly  to  the 
elders."  Our  present  idea  that  all  questions  belong  to  all 
the  members  of  the  church  would  have  seemed  to  them 
quite  impossible.  Altogether,  the  early  Congregational 
churches  had  in  them  a  liberal  admixture  of  the  aristo- 
cratic principle  which  had  so  long  shaped  the  thinking 
of  the  old  world. 

But  here  again  the  movement  of  events  led  toward 
democracy.  There  were  not  ministers  enough  to  furnish 
two  to  a  church.  There  was  not  enough  money  to  pay 
them  both,  anyhow.  So  rather  quickly  the  office  of 
teacher  ceased  to  be  filled.  The  ruling  elder,  who  was 
supposed  to  be  somewhere  between  a  minister  and  a  lay- 
man, did  not  prove  to  have  any  place  of  real  usefulness, 
so  he  ceased  to  exist. 

Their  theory  of  church  organization  did  not  give  large 
responsibilities  to  deacons,  and  as  for  deaconesses,  prac- 
tically none  were  ever  chosen.  The  consequence  was 
that  things  largely  centered  in  the  pastor.  But  the  people 
were  not  willing  that  one  man  should  settle  everything 
and  gradually  took  matters  over  into  their  own  hands. 
So  the  early  tendency  toward  Presbyterianism  was 


40  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

checked  and  the  organization  of  the  local  churches  tended 
toward  the  Congregationalism  of  today. 


The  Town  Meeting    *"  the  manaSement  of  ^  secular 
affairs  the  colonists  started  out  on 

lines  closely  parallel  to  those  of  the  church.  The  geo- 
graphical unit  was  the  town.  Originally  each  town  had 
but  one  church.  In  its  "  meeting-house  "  the  people  met 
now  to  discuss  church  affairs  and  again  to  discuss  town 
affairs.  The  same  people  were  in  both  meetings,  for  only 
members  of  the  church  could  vote.  The  New  England 
town  meeting  was  a  miniature  parliament.  All  the  free- 
men were  there  to  say  their  say  and  cast  their  ballot. 
Gradually  the  whole  region  became  covered  with  these 
little  self-governing  republics.  It  is  an  interesting  fact 
that  the  town  meeting  has  been  widely  preserved  down 
to  the  present  time.  Towns  with  a  population  of  tens  of 
thousands  still  gather  in  annual  mass  meeting  to  pass 
upon  questions  of  common  concern. 

But  even  the  early  town  meeting  was  not  quite  so 
democratic  as  it  sounds.  The  restriction  of  the  franchise 
violated  the  democratic  principle  in  a  way  quite  foreign 
to  the  thought  of  our  day.  Moreover,  the  governor  and 
magistrates  had  an  authority  beyond  that  which  we  are 
willing  to  delegate  to  them  in  our  time.  None  the  less, 
the  town  meeting  contained  the  germ  of  the  full  democ- 
racy to  come. 

p,        v,  T  -f       Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  some  features 

!    of    the    church  life  of    that  day.     They  do 

not  bear  directly  on  the  question  of  democracy,  but  they 

reveal  the  thoughts  that  were  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 

In  breaking  from  what  they  regarded  as  the  pagan 
customs  of  the  Roman  and  Anglican  churches  they 
naturally  went  to  extremes.  Christmas  and  Easter  were 


Democracy  in  Church  and  State  41 

entirely  disregarded.  Such  festivals  were  to  them  part  of 
that  formalism  from  which  they  were  trying  to 
escape. 

Weddings  were  celebrated  with  very  little  ceremony, 
funerals  with  less.  The  minister  was  not  called  in  for 
either.  The  magistrates  solemnized  marriages,  and  the 
people  stood  silently  by  the  grave  which  received  their 
dead.  Both  of  these  customs  were  changed  before  the 
end  of  the  first  century  in  America. 

In  the  seating  of  the  churches  men  and  women  were 
separated  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  assign  seats 
according  to  the  social  rank  of  the  occupant.  This  rem- 
nant of  old-world  distinctions  of  course  made  trouble. 
In  the  public  services  of  the  church  great  simplicity  was 
observed,  the  sermon  having  the  place  of  honor.  The 
Sabbath  was  kept  with  scrupulous  care  after  the  model 
of  Old  Testament  teaching.  A  long  service  in  the  fore- 
noon and  another  in  the  afternoon  pretty  well  filled  the 
day. 

The  Lord's  Supper  and  Baptism  were  administered  in 
much  the  same  way  as  at  present.  The  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  was  accompanied  with  copious  comment. 
Reading  without  comment  (called  by  them  "  dumb  read- 
ing ")  reminded  them  of  the  old  stupid  days  in  England 
when  the  minister  seemed  only  anxious  to  have  it  over 
with. 

The  offering  was  not  "  taken  "  but  "  made,"  the  people 
passing  from  their  seats  to  put  their  money  into  the 
deacons'  box.  There  was  no  instrumental  music  and  at 
first  no  hymn  books,  the  hymns  being  "  lined  out."  The 
churches  were  not  heated,  except  with  the  little  charcoal 
foot-stoves  carried  by  the  worshipers.  The  buildings 
were  plain  structures,  but  dignified.  As  the  years  went 


42  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

by  their  lines  became  increasingly  attractive.  Many  of 
the  old  colonial  churches  are  a  delight  to  the  eye. 

.  , ,.  ,  The  close  union  between  church  and 

Disestablishment  ...  i_     i_     •     •          r 

state   instituted    at    the    beginning   ot 

the  New  England  settlements  was  bound  to  disappear 
before  the  growing  spirit  of  democracy,  even  without  ex- 
ternal help.  But  vigorous  help  came  from  the  long 
struggle  with  the  royal  power.  In  1684  the  English 
Court  of  Chancery  declared  the  Massachusetts  charter 
void.  Later,  Edmund  Andros  of  evil  memory,  was  sent 
over  as  governor.  The  Boston  people  imprisoned  him  and 
later  on  Increase  Mather,  a  remarkable  example  of  the 
minister  in  politics,  succeeded  not  only  in  securing  his 
removal  but  in  getting  another  charter. 

As  the  result  of  various  forces  not  easy  to  trace,  this 
charter  abolished  all  ecclesiastical  tests  for  the  franchise, 
and  thus  delivered  the  Congregational  churches  from  that 
control  over  the  state  which  would  have  prevented  their 
wholesome  development. 

_       .  Although     there    were    in     those    early 

churches    many    elements    foreign    to    a 
Independence     _,_,  ,      .        ,  _,_, 

thoroughgoing  democracy,  there    was    no 

deviation  from  one  of  its  fundamentals,  viz.,  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  local  church.  New  England  from  the 
beginning  was  steadfast  to  the  first  half  of  the  slogan, 
"  A  church  without  a  bishop  and  a  state  without  a  king." 
Before  many  decades  had  passed  she  adopted  the  second 
half  as  well.  As  for  the  tendency  toward  Presbyterian- 
ism,  it  was  confined  to  the  form  of  the  local  organization. 
New  England  was  never  in  any  serious  danger  of  de- 
veloping a  general  Presbyterianism  "  exercising  control 
through  an  ascending  series  of  ecclesiastical  courts," 


Democracy  in  Church  and  State  43 

It  is  time  for  us  to  examine  some  of  the 
New  England  , 

,_     .    ,    '  movements    of    cooperation.     Democracy 

Confederation      ,  .  „   .    ..  . 

does  not  come  to  full  fruitfulness  except 

as  it  creates  what  has  been  called,  "  A  continuous  process 
of  union." 

One  of  the  early  ties  between  the  colonies  was  known 
as  the  "  New  England  Confederation."  This  was  a  defen- 
sive league  of  the  four  Puritan  colonies  formed  in  1643. 
At  that  time  their  combined  territories  contained  thirty- 
nine  towns  and  a  population  of  twenty-four  thousand 
people,  fifteen  thousand  of  whom  lived  in  Massachusetts. 
The  league  had  entire  control  over  all  dealings  with  the 
Indians  and  with  the  French  and  Dutch.  It  was  a  time 
of  sad  distraction  in  England,  and  the  colonists  were 
determined  to  be  in  readiness  for  any  emergency.  The 
Confederation  maintained  its  existence  for  a  period  of 
more  than  forty  years.  While  it  was  only  a  league,  it  is 
noteworthy  that  the  colonists  did  not  ask  the  mother 
country  for  permission  to  form  it. 

The  Cambridge    ™e  ha. ve  5,een  that  ,fr°m  the  beginning 

_,,   ,.  the    churches    consulted    one    with    an- 

Jriauorm  ,          „,       _        ,         ,        ,  . 

other.  The  first  formal  and  conspicu- 
ous conference  was  the  Cambridge  Synod  (Council)  of 
1646-8.  Though  it  was  called  by  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts  some  churches  doubted  whether  such 
gatherings  were  wise  and  did  not  send  delegates.  So  the 
Synod  adjourned  for  nine  months,  and  then  to  August, 
1648.  At  that  time  it  issued  what  is  known  as  the  "  Cam- 
bridge Platform,"  which  dealt  with  questions  of  church 
organization,  doctrine,  discipline,  fellowship  and  authority 
of  magistrates  over  the  church. 

Doctrinally  it  adopted  the  Westminster  Confession 
which  had  just  been  jointly  formulated  by  Presbyterians 


44  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

and  Independents  in  England,  and  which  has  been  the 
standard  for  Presbyterian  churches  ever  since.  But  it 
was  expressly  stated  that  this  doctrinal  declaration  was 
"  in  no  way  to  be  made  use  of  as  an  imposition  upon 
any."  The  Synod  further  declared  that  the  churches 
ought  to  be  subject  to  the  interference  of  the  state,  if 
they  swerved  in  doctrine  or  administration  from  the 
"  revealed  "  standard. 

The  student  of  Congregationalism  will  desire  to  study 
the  provisions  of  this  platform  in  larger  histories.  It  is 
sufficient  here  to  say  that  it  was  much  less  democratic 
than  our  present  convictions.  Too  little  democratic, 
many  even  in  that  time  thought  it.  Democracy  was 
slowly  gaining  strength. 

About  fifty  years  later  a  group  of  Massa- 

The  Proposals  .  .  .  .       .  , 

,   jTflt          chusetts  ministers  (permanent  ministerial 

associations  had  begun  to  appear)  adopted 
some  resolutions  which  are  known  as  the  "  Proposals  of 
1705."  The  most  striking  feature  was  the  suggestion 
that  the  pastors  and  lay  delegates  from  the  churches  of  a 
locality  should  constitute  a  "  standing  council,"  with 
authority  to  decide  a  wide  range  of  matters.  The  Massa- 
chusetts churches  promptly  rejected  their  proposals,  al- 
though probably  a  majority  of  the  pastors  favored  them. 
_  ,  ,  In  Connecticut,  however,  they  were  re- 

S     od  garded  with  fav°n     In   17°8  the  legisla" 

ture  of  that  colony  directed  that  repre- 
sentatives of  the  churches  come  together  for  consultation. 
This  was  called  the  Saybrook  Synod.  It  consisted  of 
twelve  ministers  and  four  laymen.  The  place  of  meeting 
was  determined  by  the  fact  that  Yale  College  was  just 
then  beginning  at  Saybrook.  This  Synod  adopted  a 


Democracy  in  Church  and  State  45 

platform    essentially    in    agreement    with    the    proposals 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph. 

One  of  its  features  has  peculiar  importance  in  Con- 
gregational history.  The  platform  provided  that  the 
churches  of  a  county  should  be  organized  as  a  "  con- 
sociation." This  body  was  to  have  much  the  same  power 
as  the  presbytery  has  in  the  Presbyterian  denomination. 
The  arrangement  resulted  in  some  difference  of  type 
between  the  church  development  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  and  put  the  latter  in  sympathetic  relations 
with  the  Presbyterians  of  states  further  west.  With  the 
lapse  of  years  this  difference  has,  in  essentials  at  least, 
disappeared. 

The  Connecticut  churches  thus  seemed  to  be 
Hooker's  .  .  ,,r 

_  moving  away  from  democracy.     We  must  not, 

however,  hastily  conclude  that  Connecticut  is 
to  be  counted  out  of  the  struggle  for  the  rule  of  the 
people.  On  the  contrary  one  of  the  most  potent  forces 
making  for  constructive  democracy  in  the  nation  can  be 
traced  to  that  state.  We  have  already  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  clear-headed,  vigorous  and  masterful 
Thomas  Hooker.  He  had  not  been  long  in  Hartford 
before  he  had  the  chance  to  express  himself  on  the  sub- 
ject of  democracy.  Preaching  before  the  General  Court 
in  1638  he  declared,  "  the  foundation  of  authority  is  laid 
in  the  free  consent  of  the  people."  "Therefore,"  said  he, 
"  as  God  has  given  us  liberty,  let  us  take  it."  This  is 
the  "  Mayflower  Compact "  over  again. 

It  is  not  strange  that  when  all  the  freemen  of  Con- 
necticut met  the  next  year  to  frame  a  written  constitu- 
tion nothing  is  said  about  "  dread  sovereign  "  and 
"  gracious  king  "  or  other  like  nonsense.  This  constitu- 
tion provided  that  the  governor  and  council  should  be 


46  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

chosen  by  majority  vote  of  all  the  electors.  In  the 
colonial  assembly  there  was  equality  of  representation  for 
each  township.  That  is  to  say,  Connecticut  was  organized 
on  the  plan  afterward  adopted  by  the  nation. 

John  Fiske  says,  "  Thomas  Hooker  deserves  more  than 
any  other  man  to  be  called  the  father  of  American  De- 
mocracy." When  the  nation's  leaders  met  one  hundred 
and  forty  years  after  Hooker's  death  to  fashion  a  federal 
republic,  they  built  on  the  principles  he  proclaimed  and 
constituted  a  government  of  the  pattern  he  believed  in. 
The  wisdom  of  Hooker  and  his  neighbors  was  built  into 
the  fundamental  law  of  the  Republic.  No  wisdom  is 
final.  Improvements  have  been  made  and  will  be  made 
upon  their  thought.  But  we  owe  them  an  immeasurable 
debt. 

T  .  __..  Somewhat  later  Massachusetts  produced  a 
great  apostle  of  democracy  rather  more  radical 
than  Hooker,  but  not  able  to  secure  the  prompt  adoption 
of  his  views  in  the  same  way.  John  Wise  was  pastor  of 
the  church  in  Ipswich,  Massachusetts  (his  church  is  now 
in  Essex).  In  1710  he  wrote  a  brilliant  little  book  called, 
"  The  Churches  Quarrel  Espoused."  It  was  a  defense  of 
democracy  in  the  church  as  against  the  "  Proposals  of 
1705"  and  the  "Saybrook  Platform."  His  central  proposi- 
tion was,  "  Power  is  originally  in  the  people."  From 
this  he  went  on  to  say,  "If  Christ  has  settled  any  form 
of  power  in  his  church  he  has  done  it  for  his  church's 
safety  and  for  the  benefit  of  every  member.  He  must 
needs  be  presumed  to  have  made  choice  of  that  govern- 
ment as  should  least  expose  his  people  to  hazard  either 
from  fraud  or  arbitrary  measures  of  particular  men. 
And  it  is  as  plain  as  daylight,  there  is  no  species  of 
government  like  a  democracy  to  attain  this  end." 


Democracy  in  Church  and  State  47 

Wise,  too,  has  the  honor  of  being  "  the  first  conspicu- 
ous opponent  of  taxation  without  representation."  His 
protest  against  taking  the  taxing  power  from  the  town 
meeting  and  giving  it  to  the  governor  cost  him  a  fine 
of  fifty  pounds  and  suspension  from  the  ministry.  He 
felt  it  was  worth  the  price. 

No  great  stir  was  made  by  Wise's  books  at  the  time 
of  their  publication.  But  in  1772,  when  its  author  had 
long  been  dead  and  the  ferment  of  the  Revolution  was 
beginning,  two  new  editions  were  welcomed  in  a  single 
year.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  Williston  Walker,  "  The  demo- 
cratic principles  which  he  had  declared  the  essentials  of 
Congregationalism,  and  which  a  slowly  increasing  number 
had  recognized  since  his  day,  were  the  theories  which  men 
welcomed  in  church  and  state  alike."  In  other  words  the 
impulse  toward  democracy  like  many  other  valuable  things 
is  found  to  have  a  significant  connection  with  a  Con- 
gregational parsonage.  Our  political  freedom  and  to  a 
large  extent  the  form  of  our  government  were  the  gifts  of 
the  church  to  America  and  to  the  world. 

_,,_.,  The    decades     passed.     Democratic     con- 

The  Outcome       .  ..  ...  F  , 

victions  steadily  grew,  helped  on  by  many 

a  force  without  and  within  the  nation.  When  at  last  the 
cannon  on  Bunker  Hill  issued  their  challenge  to  King 
George,  all  the  colonies  were  ready  to  support  the  common 
cause.  Puritan  Massachusetts  and  Episcopal  Virginia 
counselled  and  prayed  and  fought  side  by  side^with  no 
consciousness  of  difference. 

The  struggle  was  first  for  liberty  as  the  basis  of  democ- 
racy. Later  it  was  for  fraternity  as  the  substance  of 
democracy.  It  is  still  going  on  for  equality  of  opportunity 
as  the  condition  of  a  real  democracy.  By  and  by  the  goal 
will  be  reached.  But  all  the  way  along  we  must  remember 


48  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

our  debt  to  the  Puritan  and  Pilgrim,  who  worked  out  the 
problem  for  themselves  and  for  us.  With  them  we  rejoice 
in  "  a  church  without  a  bishop  and  a  state  without  a  king." 


QUESTIONS 

1.  Tell  of  the  beginnings  of  democracy  in  America. 

2.  How  far  had  the  people  of  early  New  England  a 
distinct  desire  for  democracy? 

3.  What  stimulated  the  colonists  in  their  effort  toward 
democracy? 

4.  Tell  something  of  the  early  form  of  church  organi- 
zation. 

5.  Explain  the  New  England  town  meeting  system  of 
government. 

6.  What  were  some  of  the  peculiar  features  of  early 
church  life?     What  the  causes  of  each? 

7.  What  is  meant  by  "  Disestablishment  "? 

8.  What  feature  of  the  early  churches  was  thoroughly 
democratic? 

9.  Tell  about  the  New  England  Confederation. 

10.  What  was  the  Cambridge  Synod  and  what  creed 
did  it  adopt? 

11.  Describe  the  Saybrook  Synod  and  Platform. 

12.  Discuss   Thomas    Hooker's    relation    to    American 
democracy. 

13.  What  part  did  John  Wise  play  in  the  growth  of 
democracy? 

14.  Speak  of  the  outcome  of  the  struggle  for  democracy. 


CHAPTER   IV 
NINETEENTH  CENTURY  EXPANSION 

_,     -^  In  the  history  of  America  the  nineteenth 

The  Dynamic  ...  *  .  .,       . 

_  century  will  always  be  known  as  the  time 

of  swiftly  enlarging  life.  The  foundations 
had  been  laid,  liberty  had  been  won,  and  the  nation  was 
ready  to  develop  its  vast  resources.  An  unnumbered 
multitude  of  immigrants  crowded  in  to  share  the  task. 
Steam  and  electricity  put  undreamed  of  powers  in  men's 
hands. 

Congregationalism  was  ready  to  have  part  in  this  ex- 
pansion. The  little  group  of  churches  founded  on  the 
Atlantic  sea  line  had  become  a  vigorous  body  covering  all 
New  England.  The  strength  gained  in  two  hundred  years 
of  preparation  was  to  accomplish  wonderful  results  in  the 
next  century.  We  do  not  know  just  how  many  Congrega- 
tionalists  there  were  in  1800.  The  statistician  was  not 
abroad.  But  they  invested  their  strength  so  well  that  in 
the  century  which  followed  they  kept  pace  with  the  growth 
of  the  nation  in  all  the  essentials  of  achievement. 

p.        ,          This  seems  the  more  remarkable  when  it 

TT  .,     .  is  remembered  that  the  century  began  with 

Umtariamsm         ,.    .        .  y      * 

a  distinct  loss,     ror  many  years  Congrega- 

tionalists  had  been  drifting  apart  into  two  theological 
groups.  The  cleavage  began  in  the  controversy  over  the 
"  Halfway  Covenant."  It  showed  itself  in  the  opposition 
to  revival  methods  and  messages  at  the  time  of  the  "Great 


50  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

Awakening."  There  followed  a  sharp  disagreement  over 
the  theology  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  The  two  parties  came 
to  be  known  as  the  Liberals  and  the  Orthodox.  Suspicion 
and  dissension  were  in  the  air.  The  question  most  debated 
was  the  divinity  of  Christ.  An  increasing  number  believed 
Him  only  the  loftiest  of  created  beings. 

The  stormy  days  of  the  Revolution  and  the  anxious  days 
of  nation  building  which  followed  postponed  the  break. 
But  at  last  it  came.  Oddly  enough,  its  beginning  was  not 
among  the  Congregationalists,  but  in  the  feeble  company 
of  Episcopal  churches  then  found  in  New  England.  In 
1787  King's  Chapel,  an  Episcopal  church  in  Boston,  de- 
clared itself  no  longer  a  believer  in  the  Deity  of  Christ.  In 
the  same  year  a  Boston  Congregational  pastor  published  a 
hymn  book  from  which  all  recognition  of  the  Trinity,  or  the 
Deity  of  Christ,  was  excluded.  In  1801  the  Old  Pilgrim 
Church  at  Plymouth  became  Unitarian,  a  portion  of  its 
members  withdrawing  to  found  a  Congregational  church. 

It  was  a  heavy  blow  to  Congregationalists  that  this 
church,  the  first  of  their  churches  established,  should  be  the 
first  to  withdraw  from  their  fellowship.  From  this  time  on 
one  church  after  another  passed  over  to  Unitarianism  until 
there  were  three  score  or  more  in  eastern  Massachusetts. 
In  Boston  only  two  churches  (the  Old  South  and  Charles- 
town)  remained  in  the  Congregational  body.  This  rapid 
growth  was  not  duplicated  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
Down  to  the  present  time  Unitarianism  has  little  strength 
outside  the  locality  where  it  began. 

It  is  not  possible  in  this  brief  history 
How  it  Happened  .          ,      ..   ,  ,  A, 

to  give  a  detailed  account  of  the  nature 

and  causes  of  this  unhappy  division.  It  should,  however, 
be  clearly  understood  that  there  was  not  at  the  outset  any 
desire  or  purpose  to  form  a  new  denomination.  Even  the 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  51 

name  "  Unitarian  "  was  distasteful  to  the  early  Liberals, 
because  in  England  it  was  used  by  a  type  of  semi-infidel 
thought  widely  different  from  their  own  reverent  attitude 
toward  the  Scriptures  and  toward  Christ.  They  accepted 
the  name  only  when  at  last  it  became  evident  that  there 
must  be  a  break  and  that  they  must  adopt  some  distinctive 
title. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  the  Unitarian  protest  was 
not  solely  concerning  the  deity  of  Christ.  They  also  ob- 
jected, and  quite  as  strenuously,  to  the  rigid  Calvinism 
common  in  the  New  England  of  that  time,  with  its  views 
about  depravity,  atonement,  salvation,  heaven  and  hell. 
In  other  words,  it  was  a  contest  between  two  widely  different 
modes  of  thinking. 

Very  few  churches  went  over  bodily  to  Unitarianism. 
Ordinarily  a  minority  remained  Congregationalists  and 
founded  another  church.  Sometimes,  odd  as  it  seems,  the 
majority  of  the  church  desired  to  continue  in  the  Congre- 
gational way  but  were  forced  out.  The  explanation  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  all  the  churches  of  that  time  had  a 
double  organization,  the  "  church  "  and  the  "  society." 
The  latter  was  the  legal  corporation  and  the  courts  decided 
that  it  had  the  right  to  say  whether  the  church  should  be 
Unitarian  or  Congregational. 

The  church  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  was  an  illus- 
tration of  the  working  of  this  principle.  Its  pastor,  Rev. 
Abiel  Holmes  (father  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes),  was  a 
Congregationalist  of  the  most  orthodox  type.  His  con- 
gregation gradually  became  Unitarian.  Finally  the  "  so- 
ciety "  held  a  meeting  and  voted  that  he  was  no  longer 
their  pastor.  Then  the  "  church  "  met  and  decided  by  a 
small  majority  that  he  was  still  their  pastor.  None  the  less 
the  church  and  its  pastor  had  to  move  out  of  their  house  of 


52  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

worship.  They  took  with  them  the  communion  set  and 
some  money  which  had  been  raised  for  the  poor.  But  by 
order  of  court  these  had  to  be  returned!  Those  were 
certainly  strenuous  times. 

„,.     -  ,    Very  early  in  those  sad  days  of  controversy 

__  ,        there  arose  the  question  who  should  control 

Harvard  College.  Naturally  there  was  in- 
tense interest  in  the  matter,  for  the  college  was  not  only 
profoundly  important  to  the  churches  but  the  object  of 
warmest  affection.  In  1805,  after  a  long  struggle,  the 
liberals  elected  their  candidate  to  the  chair  of  theology. 
This,  of  course,  settled  the  question. 

„  The  loss  of  Harvard  was  the  immediate 

cause  of  the  establishment  in  1808  of 
the  well-endowed  and  vigorously  manned  theological  semi- 
nary at  Andover  —  the  first  school  of  its  sort  in  the  land, 
and  which  became  a  force  of  incalculable  value.  Very 
soon  Andover  was  sending  out  "  fifty  or  sixty  recruits  each 
year  for  the  evangelical  ministry  so  trained  and  equipped 
for  their  work  as  never  young  ministers  had  been  before 
since  the  apostolic  era."  It  was  a  great  advance  over  the 
old  custom  by  which  a  minister  was  trained  in  a  sort  of 
apprenticeship  through  serving  as  assistant  to  some  dis- 
tinguished pastor.  The  same  new  energy  and  unity  among 
Congregationalists  which  caused  the  founding  of  Andover 
resulted  in  1821  in  the  establishing  of  Amherst  College, 
which  for  many  decades  was  to  furnish  no  small  portion 
of  their  leaders. 

^  ,       _  In    due    succession    other    theological 

her  Seminaries    schools  sprang  up.     !n  i816  the  semi- 

nary  soon  to  be  located  at  Bangor  was  started  at  Hampden, 
Maine.  Bangor  has  always  been  of  special  service  to  men 
not  fully  equipped  in  collegiate  preparation.  In  1822  Yale 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  53 

Divinity  School  was  organized  under  the  leadership  of 
Nathaniel  W.  Taylor,  creator  of  "  The  New  Haven  The- 
ology." In  1834  the  followers  of  Edwards  established  at 
East  Windsor,  Connecticut,  the  beginnings  of  the  present 
Hartford  Seminary  Foundation. 

The  founding  of  Oberlin  Seminary  in  1835  was  due  to  the 
increasing  discussion  of  the  slavery  question.  Charles  G. 
Finney,  then  pastor  of  Broadway  Tabernacle,  New  York, 
was  secured  as  leader.  James  H.  Fairchild  later  made 
distinguished  contribution  to  its  life.  In  1858  Chicago 
Theological  Seminary  —  the  first  seminary  in  that  city  — 
was  established  by  the  enterprise  and  loyalty  of  the  churches 
and  pastors  of  the  Middle  West.  The  Seminary  is  now 
affiliated  with  the  University  of  Chicago,  near  which 
its  new  quarters  are  located.  As  early  as  1869  the  needs  of 
the  Pacific  Coast  were  met  by  the  Pacific  Theological 
Seminary,  now  located  at  Berkeley,  California.  Since 
1901  those  of  the  South  have  been  similarly  served  by  the 
Seminary  at  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

From  the  outset  the  New  England  theo- 
The  Missionary  .  . 

_-.    .  logians  were  a  great  deal  more  than  mere 

intellectual  disputants.  In  the  very 
midst  of  the  controversy  just  described,  at  least  a  part  of 
the  Congregational  churches  were  beginning  to  catch  a 
vision  of  an  entire  world  to  be  evangelized.  Three  great 
undertakings  prove  the  growing  power  and  the  living  faith 
of  our  fathers,  viz.,  the  beginnings  of  foreign  missions,  the 
advancing  frontier  of  home  missions,  and  the  work  under- 
taken for  the  belated  races  of  the  South  and  West. 

•p.  j-  t  xi-  Let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  the  foreign 
Founding  of  the  .  .  .  ,  ,  .  .  .  6 

.     *'_j       ,     missionary  enterprise  had  its  beginnings 
American  Board        ..•„,•   ,         c  ,,       ,       ,  ,     , 

not  in  the  wisdom  of  the  church  leaders, 

but  in  the  indomitable  faith  of  a  few  college  boys.     In  1806 


54  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

Samuel  J.  Mills,  with  four  other  students  of  Williams 
College,  formed  a  little  society  called,  "  The  Brethren," 
with  the  avowed  purpose  of  personally  under- 
taking a  "  Mission  or  Missions  to  the  Heathen." 
This  historic  band,  together  with  a  few  other  earnest 
Christian  students,  were  accustomed  to  meet  for  prayer  and 
discussion  in  a  grove  near  the  college.  On  one  of  these 
occa  sions  a  violent  thunder-storm  arising,  they  took  shelter 
under  a  haystack  in  a  nearby  meadow,  and  there  the  great 
decision  was  made.  "  The  Haystack  Prayer  Meeting," 
as  the  birth-place  of  American  foreign  missions,  is  now 
known  throughout  the  Christian  world. 

On  graduating  from  Williams  this  little  group  of  volun- 
teers went  to  Andover  where  three  men  from  other  colleges 
were  added  to  their  circle.  After  seeking  counsel  from 
faculty  and  ministerial  friends,  four  of  this  band  presented 
a  memorial  to  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts, 
asking  for  counsel  and  support  in  their  enterprise.  The 
leading  spirit  was  Adoniram  Judson,  afterwards  to  have  so 
great  a  place  among  the  pioneers  of  foreign  missions.  The 
others  were  Samuel  Nott,  Samuel  J.  Mills  and  Samuel 
Newell.  It  was  thought  prudent  not  to  have  a  larger 
number  sign  the  petition  for  fear  the  churches  would  be 
frightened  over  the  magnitude  of  the  enterprise. 

As  a  result,  in  1810  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions  was  duly  constituted  and  the  enter- 
prise was  launched.  In  1812  a  bequest  of  $30,000  made  it 
possible  for  five  of  the  Andover  group  to  be  sent  to  India. 
These  were:  Adoniram  Judson,  Gordon  Hall,  Samuel 
Newell,  Samuel  Nott,  Luther  Rice.  On  the  voyage  out 
Judson  and  Rice  became  converted  to  Baptist  views,  with 
the  result  that  they  returned  to  America  and  appealed  to 
the  Baptist  denomination  to  send  them  to  Burma.  Under 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  55 

their  persuasion  the  Baptists  fell  into  line  and  in   1814 
organized  their  foreign  board. 

It  is  quite  futile  to  try  to  crowd  into  a 
Its  Remarkable  ,  111-  e 

„.  few  paragraphs  the  history  of  so  colossal 

an  undertaking  as  that  of  the  American 
Board.  Its  beginnings  were  as  romantic  as  fiction;  its 
missionaries  have  had  courage  and  faith  truly  apostolic; 
its  achievements  are  astounding.  Like  the  Pilgrims  of  old, 
the  bearers  of  the  evangel  to  other  lands  have  been  human, 
but  with  them  there  has  been  superhuman  wisdom  over- 
ruling their  mistakes.  Some  work  was  begun  only  to  be 
abandoned.  Some  missions  were  eventually  transferred  to 
other  agencies,  Congregational  or  connected  with  other 
denominations. 

As  off-shoots  of  the  Board  two  other  great  foreign  mis- 
sionary societies  were  organized,  the  boards  of  the  Presby- 
terian and  Reformed  (Dutch)  denominations;  so  that, 
directly  or  indirectly,  the  American  Board  became  the 
parent  of  all  the  American  foreign  missionary  societies.  In 
this  connection,  however,  it  should  be  noted  that  Moravian 
missionaries  had  gone  out  from  America,  under  the  auspices 
of  a  European  society,  before  the  American  Board  was 
started.  From  the  prudent  and  cautious  beginnings  of 
only  a  little  over  a  century  ago  the  Board  has  developed  to 
a  point  where  its  annual  income  exceeds  eleven  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  its  credit  and  name  stand  high  in 
every  quarter  of  the  globe. 

_  ,  The  transformation  of  the  Hawaiian  race, 

An  Established      ,         ..  .    ,  r  .    ~    , 

w    ,  the  political  ferment  in  1  urkey,  the  noble 

progress  among  the  Armenians  which 
makes  their  present  dire  calamity  doubly  tragic,  the  estab- 
lishing of  a  great  self-governing  and  self-supporting  native 
church  in  Japan,  the  slow  emerging  of  China  from  her 


56  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

age-long  sleep,  despite  the  horror  of  the  Boxer  outbreak, 
the  uplifting  of  large  sections  of  the  African  races  and  also 
of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  the  steady  siege  of  the  degrading 
citadel  of  caste  in  India,  where  for  twenty  years  more  mis- 
sionaries died  than  converts  were  made,  the  attempt  to 
bring  something  of  the  spirit  of  free  religion  into  Mexico, 
Spain  and  Austria  —  labors  like  these  have  been  per- 
formed with  apostolic  patience,  fervor  and  courage,  yet 
with  a  statesmanship  that  has  challenged  admiration  from 
traveler  and  diplomat.  A  generation  ago  it  was  thought 
that  the  theological  standards  of  that  time  must  be  scrupu- 
lously maintained  lest  the  "  nerve  of  missions  "  be  cut. 
Suitable  adjustments,  however,  were  made,  and  never  was 
the  work  of  the  Board  so  firmly  established,  never  did  it 
receive  more  eager  and  able  recruits  than  today. 

T*    iv/r     •*  i A     While  fundamentally  an  evangelistic  agency, 

Its  JVLaniiolcl  .          ,        ,  11-1          r 

experience  has  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of 

uplifting  pagan  civilizations  at  every  possible 
point.  The  American  Board  is  now  in  one  of  its  aspects 
a  vast  educational  foundation,  with  schools  of  many  sorts 
in  many  lands  —  theological  seminaries,  high  grade  colleges, 
normal,  grammar  and  primary  schools,  kindergartens, 
industrial  schools  and  other  institutions  as  special  needs 
may  require.  Its  pupils  reach  a  total  of  over  eighty 
thousand,  an  impressive  fact.  Fourscore  hospitals  and 
dispensaries  stand  beside  the  church  and  school,  with  their 
record  of  380,000  treatments  each  year.  The  gospel  of 
good  health  and  the  ministry  of  healing  are  being  proclaimed 
in  the  effective  language  of  good  deeds. 

For  many  a  race,  Congregational  missionaries  have 
created  a  written  language,  from  grammars  to  Bibles. 
Presses  have  been  founded ;  literature  of  all  kinds  —  books, 
magazines,  papers,  pamphlets  —  have  been  circulated  in 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  57 

bewildering  array.  Chief,  of  course,  among  these  labors 
has  been  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures,  a  task  in  which 
the  Bible  Societies  have  given  indispensable  and  hearty 
cooperation.  One  of  the  conspicuous  marks  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  Board  has  been  its  development  everywhere  of  an 
educated  native  ministry  and  its  relinquishment  of  ecclesi- 
astical control  as  rapidly  as  possible  into  the  hands  of  the 
resident  body.  To  use  President  Edward  C.  Moore's 
pregnant  phrase,  its  policy  has  been  that  of  "  the  naturali- 
zation of  Christianity  "  in  the  non-Christian  world.  Not 
without  its  difficulties,  this  policy  has  established  itself  as 
one  of  sound  missionary  procedure,  widely  recognized  and 
adopted  by  other  boards. 

The  American  Board  from  the  first  has  been  a  leader  in 
missionary  strategy  and  the  development  of  a  true  science 
of  missions.  In  every  field,  moreover,  our  missionaries  are 
leading  in  movements  toward  union  and  cooperation.  In 
days  like  this,  when  mission  lands  are  caught  in  the  throes 
of  a  world  war,  no  leaders  anywhere  are  more  dauntless  than 
those  who  in  many  crises  in  the  past  have  proved  the 
irresistibleness  of  the  oncoming  Kingdom.  Its  foreign  mis- 
sionary successes  have  doubtless  been  Congregationalism's 
proudest  achievement. 

T,     .  ,       But  such  a  tremendous  advance  on  the 

Beginnings  of      tt  ,     a         ,       .    ,.      ,,         f , 
,,         ,..    .  far-flung  battle-line      could  not  have 

Home  Missions     ,  ,         .  ,  ,. 

been    made    without    a    corresponding 

broadening  of  the  "  Home  Base."  The  Connecticut 
General  Association  was  discussing  the  needs  of  the  "  settle- 
ments to  the  westward  and  northwestward  "  before  the 
days  of  76.  In  1793  nine  pastors  were  sent  out  into  what 
was  then  the  frontier,  viz.  —  Vermont,  New  Hampshire 
and  New  York.  The  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  was 
organized  in  1798,  the  Massachusetts  Society  in  1799, 


58  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

Every  state  in  New  England  had  organized  a  missionary 
society  before  the  war  of  1812. 

TV,  'ivr  «*u  The  next  step  was  to  begin  the  planting 

me  iiortnwest       ,.    ,       .       .      ,  e         „.  . 

„,      .,  of  churches  in  the  great  region  from  Ohio 

westward,  then  called  "  The  Northwest 
Territory."  It  will  be  worth  while  to  digress  at  this  point 
and  note  that  a  Congregational  minister  named  Manasseh 
Cutler,  who  organized  a  colony  which  settled  at  Marietta, 
Ohio,  very  soon  after  the  Revolution,  was  an  influential 
factor  in  framing  the  "  Ordinance  of  1787  "  by  which  the 
"  Northwest  Territory  "  was  constituted.  It  is  also  signif- 
icant and  entirely  natural  that  in  that  Ordinance  should  be 
written  sentences  like  the  following: 

"  No  person,  demeaning  himself  in  a  peaceable  and 
orderly  manner,  shall  ever  be  molested  on  account  of  his 
mode  of  worship,  or  religious  sentiments,  in  the  said 
territory." 

"  Religion,  morality  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to 
good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools 
and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged." 

Nor  are  we  surprised  to  learn  that  the  Ordinance,  thus 
shaped  in  line  with  Congregational  convictions,  prohibited 
slavery  in  the  territory  covered.  A  modern  historian  has 
said,  "  Next  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  no  early  event  in  Ameri- 
can history  is  more  significant  or  far-reaching  in  its  influ- 
ence than  the  famous  Ordinance  of  1787.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  claim  that  this  Ordinance  was  the  birth  of 
nationalism." 

The   same   impulse   which   had   sent 
A  National  Home         .    . 

__.     .  0     .          missionaries  across  the  seas  resulted 

Missionary  Society    also  }n  pushing  ^  church  Qut  into  the 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  59 

Northwest  Territory  and  the  regions  beyond.  Samuel  J. 
Mills,  one  of  the  Andover  Band,  prevented  from  going  to 
India  with  his  companions,  threw  himself  with  great  ardor 
into  work  on  the  frontier.  As  a  representative  of  the 
Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  home  missionary  organiza- 
tions he  investigated  conditions  over  wide  areas  of  the 
West.  One  tour  took  him  as  far  to  the  southwest  as  New 
Orleans  and  a  second  to  St.  Louis,  where  in  1814,  he  preached 
the  first  Protestant  sermon  delivered  west  of  the  Mississippi. 
Finally  in  1826  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  nationalizing  the  home 
missionary  undertaking.  This  organization  was  at  first 
interdenominational,  but  as  time  went  on  other  participat- 
ing denominations  withdrew  and  in  1896  its  name  was 
changed  to  the  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society. 
In  its  ninety  years  of  work  it  has  expended  almost 
$30,000,000  for  the  evangelizing  of  America. 

.     ,        In  1834,  at  a  cost  of  $600,  the  first  house  of 
.     .  worship  was  erected  at  Fort  Dearborn,  then 

LngS  a  village  of  300,  now  the  city  of  Chicago.  It 
was  twenty-nine  below  zero  on  the  January  day  when  the 
building  was  first  used.  In  1829  a  group  of  Yale  students 
had  formed  the  "  Illinois  Band."  Going  out  on  their 
journey  to  that  state,  which  took  them  then  from  four  to 
six  weeks,  they  were  provided  with  outfits  and  guaranteed 
a  salary  of  $400  each.  Illinois  College  at  Jacksonville  and 
the  labors  of  J.  M.  Sturtevant  are  part  of  their  monument. 
John  D.  Pierce,  commissioned  in  1831  as  a  home  missionary 
for  Michigan,  became  the  first  superintendent  of  public 
instruction  for  the  new  commonwealth.  So  wisely  did  he 
plan,  and  so  successful  was  the  Michigan  model,  with  its 
famous  state  university,  that  it  has  been  widely  followed 
by  all  the  newer  states. 


60  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

T,     T      .  .  Little  did   Napoleon  know  what  he  was 

me  Louisiana     ^          when  in  lg()3  he  tQok 

Purchase        ,      ,,     lt  T      .  .        „      ,        ,,        .  *  . 

for  the      Louisiana  Purchase,     containing 

the  major  part  of  the  nation  west  of  the  Mississippi  River. 
It  opened  a  vast  field  for  home  missionary  effort.  It  was 
not  long  before  Congregationalists  entered  it.  Early  in 
the  forties  Horace  Hutchinson  said  one  day  to  a  group  of 
fellow-students  at  Andover,  "  If  we  could  only  go  out  and 
take  possession  of  some  field  where  we  could  have  the 
ground  and  work  together,  what  a  grand  thing  it  would  be!  " 
The  autumn  of  1843  found  "  The  Iowa  Band  "  at  Den- 
mark, Iowa,  receiving  ordination  on  the  field,  though 
there  were  more  parts  in  the  ceremony  than  there  were 
ordained  men  available  to  take  them.  Their  dream  was, 
"If  each  one  of  us  can  only  plant  one  good  and  permanent 
church  and  all  together  build  a  college,  what  a  work  that 
will  be!  "  Enthusiasm,  hard  work,  devotion  and  states- 
manship made  the  dream  come  true.  The  two  hundred 
and  eighty-six  Iowa  Congregational  churches  with  thirty- 
eight  thousand  members  and  Iowa  College  at  Grinnell  are 
its  fulfillment. 

In  1854-5  the  Kansas  Emigration  Company  despatched 
ten  emigrant  colonies  numbering  fifteen  hundred  people 
with  equipment  worth  $150,000  "  for  the  planting  of  free 
labor  towns  in  Kansas."  This  and  similar  efforts  led  to  the 
rejection  at  the  polls  in  1858  of  the  proposed  slavery  con- 
stitution for  the  new  state.  In  1856  an  "Andover- Kansas 
Band"  was  organized  to  help  evangelize  free  Kansas. 

Reuben  Gaylord,  who  with  Asa  Turner  in  Illinois,  had 
prepared  the  way  for  the  "  Iowa  Band  "  and  had  helped 
plan  Iowa  College,  was  later  commissioned  for  heroic 
service  in  Omaha,  Nebraska.  His  salary  for  the  first  year 
was  less  than  half  the  cost  of  maintaining  his  family. 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  61 

In  1868  Joseph  Ward  graduated  from  Andover  and  with 
the  cordial  consent  of  his  helpmeet  chose  Yankton,  South 
Dakota,  as  "  the  opening  calling  for  the  hardest  work."  Of 
him  an  Episcopal  governor  said,  "  Ward  has  more  influence 
than  any  other  man  in  this  territory!  "  It  was  he  that  was 
responsible  for  the  clean  statehood  achieved  by  South 
Dakota,  and  for  Yankton  College.  Of  the  "  Yale-Dakota 
Band  "  that  built  on  his  foundations,  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  only  two  men  were  from  New  England.  The  frontier 
had  begun  to  give  of  her  sons  for  the  farther  west.  The 
first  Congregational  church  in  Colorado  was  organized  in 
1863.  Although  his  labors  were  cut  short  by  a  fatal 
accident  at  the  end  of  only  eighteen  months,  the  service  of 
Joseph  Pickett,  appointed  first  missionary  superintendent 
in  1878,  was  sufficiently  noteworthy  to  stamp  the  mark  of 
his  personality  on  the  beginnings  of  the  state.  Such  are 
some  of  the  heroisms,  taken  almost  at  random,  from  the 
crowded  missionary  records  of  the  states  carved  out  of  the 
"  Louisiana  Purchase." 

story  °^  Marcus  Whitman  is  among  the 


Th    C      t 

s  hero  tales  of  America.     He  went  overland  in 

1836  as  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board 
to  the  Indians  in  what  is  now  the  state  of  Washington,  then 
part  of  Oregon.  Presently,  it  developed  that  the  British 
were  planning  to  settle  in  that  region  and  get  possession. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  winter  of  1842-3  Whitman  mounted 
his  horse,  and  in  defiance  of  the  perils  of  winter  storms,  the 
lonely  desert,  and  hostile  Indians,  rode  southward  across 
Idaho  and  Utah  into  Arizona,  eastward  across  New  Mexico, 
on  to  St.  Louis  and,  at  last  to  Washington  to  tell  the  Presi- 
dent how  enormously  valuable  was  that  great  Oregon  area 
and  how  imperative  the  necessity  of  taking  steps  to  hold 
it.  We  do  not  certainly  know  just  how  much  his  influence 


62  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

had  to  do  with  the  result,  but  we  know  that  soon  after 
measures  were  adopted  to  retain  possession  of  Oregon. 
That  long,  lonely,  perilous  ride  will  stand  forever  as  one  of 
the  great  offerings  on  the  altar  of  patriotism.  A  few  years 
later  Whitman  and  thirteen  other  members  of  the  mission 
were  murdered  by  the  Indians  whom  they  had  been  trying 
to  serve. 

The  Pilgrim  who  founded  his  tiny  republic  at  Plymouth 
little  realized  that  some  day  his  descendants  would  attempt 
to  evangelize  a  state  so  vast  as  California.  We  all  remem- 
ber that  the  gold  rush  came  in  '49;  we  may  not  realize  that 
a  Congregational  periodical  was  established  on  our  western 
coast  in  1853.  No  wonder  that  so  great  a  domain  boasts 
two  Conferences  of  Congregational  Churches. 

T       .  The  story  of  home  missions  in  the  West  ought 

Immigrant       ,  •     ,    ,  r    i  «   « 

*  .  also  to  include  some  account  of  the  work  in 

opulent  Minnesota,  mighty  Montana  and  the 
newer  states  like  Oklahoma.  Space  forbids  more  than  the 
barest  mention  of  the  peculiarly  difficult  task  courageously 
undertaken  and  sacrificially  pursued  in  Utah  in  the  effort 
to  counteract  the  dangerous  influence  of  Mormonism.  Only 
a  word  can  be  said  about  the  South.  Congregationalism 
was  practically  unknown  there  before  the  Civil  War.  Since 
then  it  has  been  increasingly  perceived  that  it  is  our  duty 
to  bear  a  share  in  the  religious  care  of  that  great  section 
of  the  nation.  The  Home  Missionary  Society  has  been 
steadily  extending  its  work  until  there  are  over  two  hundred 
and  fifty  Congregational  churches  among  the  white  popu- 
lation in  the  South. 

During  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  effort  has  been  put 
forth  to  meet  the  tremendous  problem  of  immigrant  life. 
There  are  nearly  eight  hundred  churches  and  missions 
among  immigrant  people  maintained  by  the  Congregational 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  63 

churches.  Twenty-three  languages  are  used  in  these 
missions.  Certain  training  schools  such  as  the  Chicago 
Seminary  Institutes,  the  Schauffler  Memorial  School  and 
the  Oberlin  Slavic  Institute  provide  leaders  for  this  work. 
In  these  last  days  not  only  has  the  flag  taken  us  to  Alaska, 
Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines,  but  in  the  heart  of  New 
England  we  have  found  the  foreigner  inhabiting  the  home- 
stead of  the  Puritan,  and  the  city  of  which  Winthrop  was 
governor  a  citadel  of  Irish  Catholicism.  While  the  New 
Englander  with  his  "  indestructible  and  aggressive  energy  " 
has  been  making  his  way  across  the  continent,  leaving  his 
colonial  names  as  guide-posts  to  show  the  direction  of  his 
migration,  he  has  found  it  necessary  to  redouble  his  efforts 
in  the  region  where  he  first  settled.  The  churches  of  New 
England  are  making  a  brave  and  successful  effort  to  main- 
tain their  strength  and  to  reach  a  helping  hand  to  the  new- 
comers about  them. 

_>,               .  But  before  Congregationalism  had  estab- 

The  American  ,.  ,     ,    .      ., 

,,.     .  hshed   itself   on    the   western   coast,    new 

Missionary  ,  f         ,     ,      .        .      .     ,.,      ,  \ 

.         .  ,.  problems  had  arisen  in  the  life  of  the  re- 

Association  ,  ,.       .  .  ,     ,           .    , 

public  which  demanded  new  agencies  to 

meet  them.  In  the  earlier  days  of  the  anti-slavery  agitation 
the  American  Board  felt  that  it  had  a  definite  mission  to 
perform,  and  that  the  question  of  the  emancipation  of  the 
American  negro  was  not  one  on  which  it  should  take  ground 
in  advance  of  public  opinion.  This  non-committal  attitude 
was  distinctly  unsatisfactory  to  some.  Failing  to  alter  the 
Board's  stand  on  a  matter  which  seemed  to  them  not  to  be 
evaded,  these  objectors  withdrew  in  a  friendly  fashion  to 
form  in  1846  the  American  Missionary  Association. 

-rj.tr  •  j  At  first  the  Association's  work  was  largely  in 
Its  Varied  r  .  ,  ,  A  A  <•  •  ••  j 

w    .          foreign  lands.     An  African  mission  was  under- 
taken but  was  later  transferred  to  the  United 


64  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

Brethren.  Other  missions  were  maintained  in  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  in  the  West  Indies  and  in  Siam.  Work 
among  the  American  Indians  was  undertaken  early  and 
still  persists.  In  the  course  of  time  the  Association  has 
come  to  regard  as  its  special  field  all  the  backward  peoples 
under  the  flag  except  the  Filipinos  —  among  whom  the 
American  Board  is  working.  These  are  such  as  the  Es- 
quimaux, the  Porto  Ricans,  the  Orientals  in  America,  the 
Mountaineers  of  the  Southern  Appalachians,  and  the 
Negroes.  By  recent  transfers  of  work  the  Association  will 
assume  the  mission  schools  among  Cubans  and  Mexicans 
in  the  United  States.  Four  schools  in  Utah  will  also  be 
under  its  care. 

The  particular  field  in  which  this  organization  has  done 
most  conspicuous  service  was  thrust  upon  it  as  a  result  of 
its  persistent  opposition  to  slavery.  Before  the  war  a  few 
institutions  had  been  founded.  Behind  the  advancing 
armies  the  missionary  pressed  steadily  into  the  South, 
at  first  on  a  mission  of  relief  to  the  fugitive  negro,  freed 
by  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  but  left  destitute,  later 
in  the  slow  task  of  educating  and  uplifting  a  race  but  a 
few  decades  out  of  savagery. 

Alert  to  seize  every  opportunity,  not  sectarian  in  origin 
nor  in  the  aim  of  its  work,  the  American  Missionary  Asso- 
ciation has  carried  on  an  enterprise  which  has  required 
strong  leaders,  courageous  workers  and  loyal  supporters. 
That  it  was  able  to  plan  large  things  was  due  at  the  outset 
to  the  action  of  the  National  Council  of  1865  commending 
to  the  churches  the  raising  of  a  fund  of  $250,000  for  the 
task  presented  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

Some  of  the  achievements  of  the  Association  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  founding  of  Hampton  Institute  and  the  work  of 
General  Armstrong,  in  the  consecrated  leadership  of  such 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  65 

a  man  as  Arthur  Tappan,  in  splendid  institutions  like  Fisk, 
Talladega,  Straight  and  Tougaloo,  in  all  the  varied  results 
made  possible  through  the  generous  gifts  of  the  living 
augmented  by  notable  legacies,  of  which  the  Daniel  Hand 
Fund  of  nearly  two  million  dollars  stands  preeminent. 
w  True  to  type,  Congregationalism,  as  it  spread 

p  ..  westward,    preached    resolutely    the    gospel    of 

^  education.  When  in  the  spring  of  1788  a  com- 
pany of  forty-eight  New  Englanders  left  their  barge,  "  The 
Mayflower,"  on  which  they  had  sailed  six  days  down  the 
Ohio  river,  to  land  at  Marietta,  they  were  typical  of  many 
a  company  of  Congregational  pioneers.  Disciplined  by 
the  life  of  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  self-respecting  and 
respecting  each  other,  law-abiding,  reverent,  patriotic, 
dauntless,  frugal,  they  duplicated  in  new  scenes  what  was 
best  in  New  England.  One  of  their  first  steps  was  to  set 
apart  one  piece  of  land  as  a  parsonage  lot  and  two  townships 
for  a  college.  This  school,  known  as  Marietta  College,  has 
had  a  fruitful  history. 

Oberlin  was  founded  in  1833  by  a  Presbyterian  pastor 
and  a  friend  who  had  been  a  missionary  of  the  American 
Board  to  the  Indians.  Charles  G.  Finney  soon  became 
its  president  and  gave  it  the  Congregational  stamp  it  still 
bears.  Olivet  and  Tabor  are  children  of  Oberlin.  The 
same  spirit  which  founded  Bowdoin  and  Middlebury,  later 
established  Beloit  and  Ripon,  Washburn  and  Carleton, 
Rollins  and  Pomona,  Howard  and  Atlanta,  Doane  and 
Drury,  Colorado  and  Whitman  and  many  others.  It  is 
perhaps  less  widely  recognized  that  Mt.  Holyoke,  Smith 
and  Wellesley,  conspicuous  among  colleges  for  women,  were 
from  their  beginnings  in  close  relations  with  Congrega- 
tionalism. 

Throughout  the  century  under  review  the  denomination 


66  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

has  expressed  its  educational  interest  in  a  national  way 
through  the  Congregational  Education  Society.  Organized 
in  1816  under  the  name,  "American  Education  Society," 
it  has  founded  or  fostered  scores  of  colleges  and  academies, 
at  the  same  time  aiding  thousands  of  young  men  to 
enter  the  ministry. 

_,       ,  T  No   record    of   nineteenth   century    Con- 

Great  Leaders  .       ,.         ,  ,   .  ,.          , ,  , 

gregationahsm,   however  brief,  would  be 

complete  without  mention  of  a  few  of  its  great  leaders.  As 
a  theologian,  Edwards  A.  Park  of  Andover  might  be  men- 
tioned, as  evangelists,  Finney  and  Moody,  as  educators, 
Mark  Hopkins  and  Timothy  Dwight.  On  the  foreign 
field  one  would  have  to  include  such  statesmen  as  Cyrus 
Hamlin,  who  could  bake  bread  for  an  army  or  establish  a 
Robert  College,  and  Joseph  Hardy  Neesima,  the  fugitive 
Japanese  boy  befriended  by  a  Congregational  merchant, 
founder  of  the  Doshisha  University  in  Tokio. 

Perhaps  Beecher  and  Bushnell  loom  as  large  and  as 
typical  as  any  leaders  in  the  homeland.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  America's  greatest  pulpit  orator  and  one  of  the 
greatest  preachers  of  any  age,  was  for  forty  years  (1847 
to  his  death  in  1887)  the  pastor  of  Plymouth  Church, 
Brooklyn.  An  ardent  foe  of  slavery,  a  fearless  and  brilliant 
champion  of  the  Union,  editor  of  "  The  Independent," 
founder  of  "  The  Christian  Union,"  he  was  preeminently 
a  preacher.  With  his  sermons  were  published,  also,  his 
noteworthy  "Prayers  from  Plymouth  Pulpit";  and  his 
Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching  are  among  the  classics  of  that 
brilliant  series. 

The  year  that  Beecher  went  to  Plymouth  Church,  Horace 
Bushnell  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  published  a  little  volume 
on  "  Christian  Nurture."  It  consisted  of  two  discourses 
which  had  at  first  been  unanimously  accepted  for  publi- 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  67 

cation  by  the  Massachusetts  Sabbath  School  Society,  but 
were  later  rejected,  with  the  result  that  their  author 
published  them  privately.  Through  the  stormy  dis- 
cussion which  followed  the  publication  of  this  book  and 
others  from  his  pen,  Bushnell's  church  stood  loyally 
with  him.  Bushnell  lived  to  see  his  community  con- 
spicuously beautified  through  his  civic  labors,  and  to 
find  himself  recognized  as  "  the  first  citizen  of  Hartford." 
His  views  have  been  widely  accepted  by  Congregational 
churches  and  have  had  extraordinary  influence  on  the 
movement  of  theological  thought. 
p,  .  .  As  a  by-product  of  Congregationalism,  we  may 

count    the    whole    modern    movement    among 
Endeavor    _,  ,       ~,  ,  . 

Protestant  young  people.     Taking  its  rise  m 

the  definite  needs  of  a  single  parish,  Williston  Church, 
Portland,  Maine,  and  the  fertile  brain  and  big  heart  of  its 
beloved  founder,  "  Father  Endeavor  "  Clark,  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Movement  has  spread  to  every  corner  of  the 
globe.  It  was  from  the  first  interdenominational  and  has 
proven  adapted  to  communions  of  nearly  every  type. 
From  it  have  sprung  various  other  strictly  denominational 
agencies  for  young  people  which  have  proven  a  blessing  to 
sister  denominations. 

„,.     TT    .  Such  a  brief  sketch  of  a  century  of  growth 

The  Heritage  .  .        f   , 

.  ,         can  give  only  the  crudest  suggestion  ot  the 

rich  life  here  briefly  recorded.  As  the 
Pilgrims  needed  hardihood  on  that  bleak  coast,  so  the 
pioneers  on  the  western  frontier  and  on  the  far  foreign 
field  have  needed  a  glimpse  of  "  the  vision  splendid,"  and  a 
high,  undaunted  courage. 

To  read  the  record  of  these  years  in  any  detail  is  to  realize 
anew  the  debt  of  the  present  to  the  past,  and  to  honor  our 
fathers  for  their  splendid  investment  of  that  religious 


68  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

heritage  which  they  received  from  the  forefathers.  To 
open  the  continent  in  a  century,  to  circle  the  globe  with 
truth  and  righteousness  and  good-will,  to  ennoble  the  life 
of  an  entire  nation,  and  to  hold  out  a  helping  hand  to  the 
ignorant  and  the  downtrodden  all  around  the  globe  — 
such  an  achievement  puts  upon  us  of  today  an  exacting 
obligation.  If  the  college  boys  of  the  early  nineteenth 
century  could  establish  enterprises  of  such  astounding 
moment,  what  will  the  young  people  of  the  twentieth 
century  dare  to  dream  and  resolve  to  accomplish? 


QUESTIONS 

1.  From  a  Congregational  point  of  view  why  is  the 
Nineteenth  Century  "  a  wonderful  century  "? 

2.  Describe  briefly  the  rise  of  Unitarianism. 

3.  Explain    the    system    of    "  double    organization  " 
known  as  "  church  "  and  "  society  "  and  how  it  worked  in 
the  Unitarian  controversy. 

4.  What  was  the  name  of  the  first  Theological  Seminary 
organized? 

5.  Give  name  and  date  of  organization  of  other  im- 
portant educational  institutions. 

6.  What    other    great    motive    stood    alongside    the 
educational  ideal? 

7.  What  is  the  name  of  the  first  foreign  missionary 
organization  in  America? 

8.  When  and  how  was  the  American  Board  founded? 

9.  Name  some  of  the  principal  countries  in  which  it  is 
at  work. 

10.  State  briefly  the  outstanding  features  of  its  work. 

11.  Tell  of  the  beginnings  of  Home  Missions. 


Nineteenth  Century  Expansion  69 

12.  What    part    did    Congregationalism    play    in    the 
settlement  of  what  was  then  known  as  "  The  Northwest 
Territory  "? 

13.  What    is    the    Congregational    Home    Missionary 
Society  and  what  led  to  its  organization? 

14.  Speak  of  its  beginnings. 

15.  What  effect  did  the  Louisiana  Purchase  have  on 
Home  Mission  work? 

16.  What  was  the  "  Iowa  Band  "? 

17.  Give  an  outline  of  Marcus  Whitman's  life. 

18.  Indicate  the  nature  and  extent  of  Congregational 
work  among  immigrant  people. 

19.  Describe   the   origin   and   work   of   the   American 
Missionary  Association. 

20.  Name  some  of  the  colleges  founded   under  Con- 
gregational auspices. 

21.  Who  was  Horace  Bushnell  and  what  the  nature  of 
his  influence? 

22.  Describe  Henry  Ward  Beecher's  place  in  the  history 
of  American  Christianity. 

23.  When  and  by  whom  was  the  Christian  Endeavor 
movement  started? 

24.  What  was  the  result  of  the  "  Heritage  Invested  "? 


CHAPTER  V 
ADJUSTMENT  TO  CHANGING  NEEDS 

£r  nt  When  Congregationalism  was  about  two 

,  A         ,         ,     hundred     years    old  —  that     is    to   say 
of  Adjustment    ^    ^    ^  Qf    ^    first    ^    rf    ^ 

nineteenth  century  —  there  began  an  era  full  of  changes 
swift  and  profound  in  all  departments  of  life.  We  cannot 
stop  to  describe  them  except  as  they  have  had  bearing  on 
the  life  of  the  church.  But  those  bearings  have  been  many. 
It  has  been  a  time  of  crisis,  full  of  danger  and  full  of  possi- 
bilities. Courage  and  faith  have  been  constantly  needed. 
Congregationalism,  like  every  living  denomination,  has 
been  compelled  to  adjust  itself  rapidly  to  new  conditions. 
Because  it  has  so  much  of  the  progressive  spirit  it  has  had 
to  face  the  demand  of  these  conditions  in  a  more  distinct 
way  than  most  other  denominations. 

_.     „.  This  era  was  first  obliged  to  meet  a  great  ques- 

Q  .  tion  of  public  morals  —  the  slavery  issue. 
Congregationalists  in  early  New  England  had 
to  some  degree  been  slaveholders  as  we  have  seen.  But 
slavery  died  out  in  New  England,  doubtless  partly  because 
it  proved  unprofitable,  partly  because  conscience  began  to 
awaken  in  the  matter.  And  when  one  hundred  years  ago 
the  fight  was  fairly  on,  Congregationalists  almost  without 
exception  were  on  the  anti-slavery  side.  Back  in  1791  the 
younger  Jonathan  Edwards  preached  on  "  The  Impolicy 
and  Injustice  of  the  Slave  Trade."  This  sounds  to  us  rather 


Adjustment  to  Changing  Needs  71 

mild,  but  it  shows  the  movement  of  thought.  The  "  Pano- 
plist,"  a  Congregational  paper  published  in  Boston,  was 
outspoken  in  its  fight  against  slavery. 

Oberlin  College  was  founded  in  1833  and  arrested  the 
attention  of  all  thoughtful  people,  by  admitting  not  only 
both  sexes  but  all  races.  The  American  Missionary  Asso- 
ciation came  into  existence  in  1846  as  a  protest  against 
slavery.  In  1848  the  New  York  "Independent"  was  founded 
with  leading  Congregationalists  like  Leonard  Bacon  and 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  in  control.  It  began  to  fight  slavery 
from  its  first  issue.  About  this  time  Beecher  in  a  famous 
address  flayed  the  American  Tract  Society  for  its  refusal 
to  circulate  anti-slavery  literature.  In  1852  the  Albany 
Convention  of  Congregational  churches  went  on  record 
as  opposed  to  the  "  stupendous  wrong  of  human  slavery." 
To  such  happenings  we  must  add  also  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin," 
a  book  evidently  somewhat  Congregational  in  its  back- 
grounds, for  its  author's  father,  husband,  brothers,  uncles 
and  son  were  all  Congregational  ministers! 

Broadly  speaking,  the  denomination  was  ready  to  follow 
this  leadership,  although  of  course  there  were  many  search- 
ings  of  heart  and  sharp  differences  of  judgment  as  to  almost 
every  aspect  of  the  case. 

T  ,  The    Unitarian    controversy    which    came 

Intellectual      .     .  ,    .       ,,  ,      ,.         .          .  , 

_,      ,.  just  before  the  era  under  discussion  quick- 

Readjustment    J      ,    .,        ,  •     •    i  ^ 

ened    thought    on    theological    questions. 

But  its  most  conspicuous  immediate  effect  upon  Con- 
gregationalists was  to  cause  them  to  draw  together  in  de- 
fense of  the  historic  faith.  The  period  of  intellectual 
exploration  and  wide  readjustment  of  thought  was  to  come 
later. 

The  most  conspicuous  factor  in  bringing  about  such 
readjustment  was  the  theory  of  evolution.  Formulated 


72  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

some  sixty  years  ago  by  Darwin  and  others,  it  was  at 
first  regarded  in  most  quarters  with  aversion.  Little  by 
little  it  won  its  way  among  thoughtful  men.  At  length  it 
reached  the  place  of  pervasive  influence  it  holds  today. 
This  does  not  mean  that  men  of  sound  judgment  are  inclined 
to  assert  that  in  the  evolutionary  theory  we  have  the  final 
word  as  to  the  history  of  our  planet.  It  simply  means  that 
they  regard  it  as  furnishing  the  key  which  is  to  open  to  us 
wide  realms  of  knowledge  hitherto  closed. 

Along  with  evolution  came  a  transformation  in  methods 
of  historic  inquiry.  All  the  story  of  man's  past  was  sub- 
jected to  merciless  re-examination.  A  new  and  resolute 
effort  was  made  to  separate  legend  from  fact,  and  to  perceive 
the  meaning  of  the  facts.  As  a  part  of  this  process  ancient 
literatures,  including  the  Bible,  were  critically  studied. 
Their  nature  and  value  were  freshly  appraised.  Traditional 
views  were  put  to  the  historical  test.  A  new  science  of 
literary  criticism  was  created. 

These  and  lesser  intellectual  movements  of  the  last 
century  had  an  immediate  and  profound  influence  upon 
religious  thought.  The  period  from  1870  to  1900,  especially, 
was  full  of  intense  study  and  warm  discussion  of  the  issues 
raised.  Previous  eras  of  debate  had  been  quite  as  heated. 
But  in  no  era  had  men's  thoughts  ranged  so  wide  a  field  or 
dealt  with  matters  so  fundamental. 

Congregationalists  naturally  were  among  the  first  to  face 
the  questions  thus  brought  to  the  front.  Sharp  antagonisms 
of  opinion  appeared.  Not  a  little  bewilderment  and 
anxiety  was  felt.  Fortunately  the  flexible  polity  of  Con- 
gregationalism makes  possible  wide  disagreement  without 
cleavage.  Moreover,  three  hundred  years  of  history 
marked  by  freedom  and  fellowship  have  made  for  breadth 
of  vision.  We  had  been  learning  during  all  those  years 


Adjustment  to  Changing  Needs  73 

that  the  less  the  compulsion  the  more  the  agreement.  So 
Congregationalism  came  through  the  period  of  debate 
without  serious  strain  or  loss. 

Today  our  Congregational  churches  are  to  a  remarkable 
degree  united  in  their  attitude  toward  the  modern  move- 
ment of  thought,  and  in  their  emphasis  on  intellectual 
freedom.  Varying  widely  in  their  views  of  one  aspect  and 
another  of  the  faith  of  the  Gospel,  they  are  at  one  in  their 
desire  to  maintain  unity  of  spiritual  purpose  and  fidelity  to 
evangelical  truth. 

Increasingly  it  is  perceived  that  no  method  or  kind  of 
scholarly  inquiry  honestly  pursued  can  imperil  the  Christian 
faith.  Everything  that  men  can  find  out  about  God's 
world  or  His  Word  will  help  to  understand  Him.  Thus  we 
have  come  to  see  something  of  the  oneness  of  truth  and  the 
way  part  fits  into  part.  The  future  history  of  the  Protes- 
tant Church  will  be  one  of  ever  closer  alliance  with  the 
intellectual  forces  of  the  world.  In  bringing  this  to  pass 
Congregationalism  has  had  an  honorable  place  of  leadership. 
TU  q  •  1  Beginning  a  little  later  than  the  process  just 
.  ,  .  described  came  one  of  the  greatest  experiences 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Her 
eyes  were  opened  to  see  that  the  Gospel  which  we  proclaim 
has  just  as  real  a  message  of  salvation  for  society  as  it  has 
for  the  individual.  This  sounds  harmless,  but  enough 
dynamic  has  proven  to  be  in  it  to  revolutionize  the  church's 
program.  The  process  is  still  on,  so  no  one  can  assume  to 
describe  it  fully.  But  there  is  no  longer  among  thoughtful 
people  any  room  for  debate  on  the  main  proposition. 
Right  relationships  between  men,  just  and  brotherly, 
educational,  industrial  and  political  conditions  are  agreed 
to  be  things  for  which  the  church  is  responsible,  as  truly 
as  for  leading  individual  men  to  accept  Jesus  Christ  as 


74  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

their  Saviour  from  weakness  and  sin.  It  ought  to  be  said 
at  this  point  that  the  church  has  from  the  beginning 
had  in  one  measure  or  another  a  consciousness  of  her  social 
obligation.  That  which  is  new  is  the  clearing  of  her  vision 
and  the  enormous  extension  of  the  recognized  field  of 
obligation. 

Great  things  have  been  happening  in  our  land  and  time 
as  the  result  of  the  clearer  social  vision  of  Christians.  All 
Christendom  is  interwoven  with  a  network  of  philanthropies. 
The  care  of  defectives,  delinquents  and  criminals  has  become 
a  science  ardently  followed  in  a  spirit  made  up  of  warmth  of 
devotion  and  cool  common  sense.  The  ways  of  politics 
have  been  cleansed  —  alas,  not  completely  but  so  far 
that  the  grosser  forms  of  corruption  are  largely  stamped 
out,  the  spoils  system  is  dying,  and  the  spirit  of  service 
grows  steadily  more  prevalent.  The  light  has  been  turned 
on  the  world  of  industry.  Year  by  year  the  child  toilers 
grow  fewer;  the  destruction  of  life  by  dangerous  machines, 
inhuman  hours,  and  unsanitary  conditions  is  reduced.  If 
peace  has  not  come  between  employer  and  employee,  it  is 
no  longer  because  the  Church  of  Christ  is  unconcerned. 
Tens  of  thousands  of  men  and  women  are  praying  over  the 
problem  as  well  as  working  at  it. 

_   ,  Great     reforms     have     been     effected.     Public 

gambling  has  nearly  disappeared.  The  "  social 
evil  "  has  been  conspicuously  reduced.  The  saloon  has 
been  driven  from  the  sight  of  half  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  There  is  state-wide  prohibition  in  nineteen  states. 
Before  long  we  shall  have  a  saloonless  nation. 

The  moral  meanings  of  property  are  under  the  microscope 
now.  We  no  longer  think  that  we  have  a  right  to  spend 
what  we  will  on  ourselves  if  we  get  it  honestly.  We  are 
making  more  searching  definitions  of  "  honesty  "  year  by 


Adjustment  to  Changing  Needs  75 

year.  The  problem  of  a  fairer  distribution  of  material 
possessions  is  much  in  our  thoughts.  We  are  growingly 
sure  that  neither  luxury  nor  poverty  can  have  place  in  a 
Christian  social  order.  In  these  and  countless  other  ways 
the  Church  of  Christ  is  beginning  to  realize  the  meaning  of 
"  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  "  of  which  John  wrote. 

Of  course,  it  is  only  a  beginning.  It  makes  one  sick  at 
heart  to  think  of  the  remains  of  animalism  and  paganism  in 
human  lives  and  human  society.  But  we  have  made  a 
brave  start.  We  have  at  last  possessed  ourselves  of  a 
fully  rounded  message  and  faced  our  whole  task.  We  will 
finish  the  task  by  and  by  through  God's  grace. 

Congregationalism  has  had  a  distinguished  share  in  this 
process.  Through  her  gifted  men  she  has  helped  to  think 
out  the  problems  of  the  new  social  order.  She  has  furnished 
leadership  in  attacking  them.  Her  churches  have  in  many 
cases  made  themselves  strongly  felt  in  their  communities 
on  behalf  of  decency  and  justice  and  fairness  and  fraternity. 
When  one  thinks  of  such  socially  minded  Congregationalists 
as  Josiah  Strong  and  Samuel  B.  Capen  and  William  Hayes 
Ward  and  Charles  M.  Sheldon  and  Washington  Gladden 
and  Lyman  Abbott  and  Graham  Taylor  and  a  host  of  others, 
he  gives  thanks  and  takes  new  courage.  Congregationalism 
is  ready  for  the  new  and  greater  social  era  ahead. 

^  To  get  the  drift  of  the  conviction  of  Con- 

Certain  Key  s  .       ..  .  .  . 

•pj-  f        '      gregationalists  on  social  matters  one  needs 

only  to  turn  the  pages  which  record  the 
resolutions  and  utterances  of  their  national  meetings.  Back 
in  1865,  at  their  National  Council  meeting  on  Burial  Hill 
at  Plymouth,  they  declared  that  our  Puritan  fathers 
applied  the  principles  of  the  Gospel  "  to  elevate  society, 
to  regulate  education,  to  civilize  humanity,  to  purify 
law,  to  reform  the  church  and  state,  and  to  assert  and 


76  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

defend  liberty  —  in  short,  to  mold  and  redeem  by  its  all- 
transforming  energy  everything  that  belongs  to  man  in  his 
individual  and  social  relations."  They  certainly  did  do  just 
that  and  the  Puritans  of  today  are  trying  to  do  the  same 
thing. 

In  1913  the  National  Council  at  a  meeting  in  Kansas  City 
adopted  a  new  creed.  It  is  not  an  official  creed.  It  has 
no  binding  force  on  anyone  except  the  people  who  voted 
for  it  and  those  who  adopt  it.  Congregationalists  do  not 
believe  that  anyone  needs  to  be  told  what  he  believes! 
But  it  represents  beyond  doubt  the  general  thought  of  the 
denomination.  In  that  creed  it  is  declared  to  be  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Church  of  Christ  to  "  labor  for  the  promotion 
of  justice,  the  reign  of  peace  and  the  realization  of  human 
brotherhood  ...  to  work  and  pray  for  the  transformation 
of  the  world  into  the  Kingdom  of  God."  Like  utterances 
can  be  found  scattered  all  the  way  along  between  1865  and 
1913,  each  year  witnessing  a  growth  in  social  grasp.  The 
Congregational  churches  stand  squarely  committed  to  a 
definite  gospel  of  human  brotherhood  resulting  in  political 
equality,  economic  justice,  international  good-will,  and 
progress  in  all  that  makes  life  sane  and  sweet. 

.   _  ,,    ,  Pastor  John  Robinson  in  an  oft-quoted 

A  Curious  Modesty      ,  , ,  ,  .  ^    ,  , 

phrase  told  his  people  that  God  has 

"  more  truth  and  light  yet  to  break  forth  from  His  holy 
Word."  It  was  a  beautiful  saying.  One  could  wish  that  a 
good  many  more  people  had  said  it  and  meant  it.  It  is  a 
happy  thing  that  in  so  large  degree  Congregationalists  have 
possessed  the  spirit  of  this  utterance.  But  being  men  and 
women  of  mortal  clay  they  have  not  always  made  a  perfect 
success  of  putting  the  principle  into  practice.  In  this  period 
of  setting  forces  in  order  for  progress  they  found  it  necessary 
to  correct  a  strong  but  mistaken  tendency.  It  is  called  in 


Adjustment  to  Changing  Needs  77 

the  heading  of  this  paragraph  "  a  curious  modesty." 
Congregationalists  were  so  determined  not  to  be  guilty  of 
sectarian  zeal  nor  to  put  on  any  ecclesiastical  airs,  that  they 
fell  into  a  way  of  excessive  deference  to  other  forms  of 
church  organization,  and  a  corresponding  lack  of  aggressive- 
ness in  extending  their  own  influence  and  developing  their 
own  life. 

For  instance,  it  was  stoutly  believed  by  the  New  England 
churches  up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  and  by  some 
of  them  a  long  while  after,  that  the  Congregational  polity 
would  not  work  in  the  newer  settlements  of  the  West. 
This  belief  has  been  facetiously  described  as  teaching  that 
"  Congregationalism  is  a  river  rising  in  New  England  and 
emptying  south  and  west  into  Presbyterianism."  The 
allusion  is  to  an  arrangement  between  Presbyterians  and 
Congregationalists  known  as  "  The  Plan  of  Union  "  by 
which  pioneer  churches  in  New  York,  Ohio  and  further 
west,  belonging  to  either  body,  might,  by  certain  arrange- 
ments which  need  not  be  described  here,  have  a  relation  to 
both  bodies.  It  was  an  innocent  looking  agreement  and 
was  the  expression  of  a  most  admirable  and  sincere  friend- 
ship between  the  contracting  parties.  But  the  centers  of 
Presbyterianism  were  much  nearer  the  territory  in  question 
and  their  denominational  spirit  was  strong.  Quite  in- 
evitably, therefore,  the  majority  of  the  "  Plan  of  Union  " 
churches  became  Presbyterian.  They  could  hardly  be 
expected  to  believe  in  Congregationalism  for  themselves  if 
their  supporters  in  New  England  did  not  believe  in  it  for 
them. 

Finally  we  "  came  to  ourselves."  A  convention  was 
called  in  1852  at  Albany,  New  York.  It  took  up  for  con- 
sideration the  problem  of  western  work.  It  decided  that 
the  Congregational  churches  of  the  West  were  doing  ex- 


78  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

ceedingly  well  and  ought  to  be  encouraged.  It  voted  to 
withdraw  from  the  "Plan  of  Union."  It  issued  an  appeal  for 
a  fund  of  $50,000  to  aid  in  building  western  churches.  This 
fund  was  promptly  oversubscribed.  It  resulted  in  establish- 
ing the  "  Church  Building  Society  "  with  its  history  of 
marked  achievement. 

The  whole  atmosphere  of  the  denomination  was  changed 
by  this  convention.  Whoever  thought  of  calling  it  was 
a  far-visioned  man.  Of  course,  the  cure  of  morbid  modesty 
was  not  immediate  and  entire.  But  Congregationalism  as 
a  whole,  from  the  time  of  the  Albany  Convention,  came 
into  an  increasing  consciousness  of  its  validity  and  power. 

_.   .  Having  turned  the  corner  it  became  rela- 

Internal          .     .  ,       ,       .       ,  ,.      .      , 

.      .         tively  easy  for  the  churches  to  live  in  the 

spirit  of  John  Robinson's  word  and  to  in- 
corporate into  their  thoughts  and  plans  the  "  more  light  " 
which  was  coming  to  them.  They  had  long  had  state 
organizations  for  fellowship  and  for  considering  matters  of 
common  interest.  Now  it  was  perceived  that  they  needed 
some  sort  of  national  bond.  So  in  1865  a  national  meeting 
was  called  at  Boston,  some  of  its  sessions  being  held  at 
Plymouth  as  already  noted.  A  committee  was  appointed 
to  report  at  a  future  meeting.  In  1871  they  called  a 
meeting  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  at  which  the  permanent  organiz- 
ation of  a  National  Council  was  effected.  Subsequent 
sessions  were  held  every  three  years  until  1913.  The 
Council  now  meets  biennially. 

Another  illustration  of  adjustment  to  new  conditions  is 
found  in  the  matter  of  the  ministry.  The  early  idea  was 
that  one  became  a  minister  by  being  ordained  and  installed 
as  a  pastor  of  a  church.  When  he  ceased  to  be  such  he 
ceased  to  be  a  minister.  There  are  some  things  to  be  said 
for  this  view,  but  so  many  more  things  to  be  said  against 


Adjustment  to  Changing  Needs  79 

it  that  it  has  been  abandoned.  A  minister  is  now  ordained 
by  a  "  Council  "  or  "  District  Association,"  then  joins  the 
Association  and  remains  a  minister  as  long  as  he  lives, 
unless  by  his  own  choice  or  by  act  of  the  Association  his 
name  is  taken  from  the  rolls.  If  he  removes  from  one 
Association  to  another  he  secures  a  letter  of  transfer. 

As  time  went  on  and  the  churches  of  the  Congregational 
order  spread  over  the  entire  country,  it  came  to  be  felt  that 
their  unity  and  strength  would  be  promoted  if  larger  service 
were  expected  of  national  representatives.  No  one  knew 
just  how  to  get  at  it  until  in  1901  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Amory 
H.  Bradford  of  New  Jersey,  being  chosen  moderator  of  the 
Council,  announced  his  purpose  to  give  a  large  share  of  his 
three  years'  term  to  speaking  and  writing  in  the  interest  of 
the  churches  of  the  nation.  Considerable  alarm  was  felt. 
Were  we  to  have  a  full-fledged  archbishop  thrust  upon  us? 
But  Dr.  Bradford's  gracious  and  helpful  ministry-at-large 
disarmed  all  criticism.  In  1904,  the  Council  by  vote  asked 
the  incoming  moderator  to  continue  the  practice. 

Later  on  as  the  common  concerns  of  the  churches  grew 
more  numerous  it  became  clear  that  some  one  was  needed 
to  act  as  the  coordinating  executive  agent  of  the  Council 
and  on  its  behalf  to  render  so  far  as  he  might  any  services 
desired  by  the  churches.  So  in  1913  the  office  of  Council 
Secretary  was  enlarged  in  its  scope  and  an  ampler  force 
provided  for  the  Council  office. 

•  •  j.    *.•         By  the   time   the  National   Council  was 
Administrative       y     .     ,  „  ..       , 

Readjustment  orSanized  Congregationalism  had  become 
a  great  business  concern.  Its  mission  and 
publishing  organizations  handled  annually  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  and  were  guardians  of  millions  of 
dollars  of  funds.  These  grew  from  year  to  year.  Naturally 
there  arose  a  desire  that  the  churches  which  supported  this 


80  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

work  should  have  control  of  it.  This  was  only  partially 
the  case  under  the  method  then  in  force.  Each  missionary 
agency  was  organized  on  its  own  plan  and  none  of  them  had 
an  effectively  representative  basis.  In  some  cases  so  little 
interest  was  taken  in  their  business  affairs  that  the  officers 
and  Boards  of  Directors  were  compelled  to  assume  full 
responsibility  for  everything  that  was  done.  This  was  of 
course  patently  unfortunate  and  unwise. 

Finally  at  the  Kansas  City  Council  of  1913,  on  recom- 
mendation of  a  strong  body  of  men  appointed  by  the 
National  Council  and  known  as  "  The  Commission  of 
Nineteen,"  it  was  agreed  that  all  the  affairs  of  all  mission 
organizations  ought  to  be  determined  by  the  National 
Council  at  its  biennial  sessions.  This  simple  solution  of  the 
problem  was  accepted  by  the  missionary  societies  and  has 
given  almost  universal  satisfaction.  It  makes  it  possible 
for  the  churches  through  their  representatives  to  shape 
their  missionary  policy  as  they  will.  It  places  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  mission  work  of  the  denomination  squarely 
upon  the  churches,  where  it  rightfully  belongs.  It  ties  the 
mission  boards  together  in  a  unity  which  ensures  coopera- 
tion. It  has  made  possible  some  readjustment  of  their 
structure  in  the  interest  of  economy  and  efficiency  of  effort. 

None  of  these  readjustments,  nor  lesser  ones  unmentioned, 
have  made  any  change  in  the  fundamental  principles  and 
ideals  of  Congregationalism,  which  will  be  described  more 
fully  in  the  next  chapter.  They  have  simply  been  the 
outworking  of  those  principles  in  adaptation  to  the  needs 
of  a  constantly  changing  world. 

None  the  less  these  changes  will  prove  of  profound 
significance  for  the  denomination  and  for  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  As  a  result  of  them  every  Congregational  church 
member  is  made  a  stockholder  in  a  tremendous  world-wide 


Adjustment  to  Changing  Needs  81 

enterprise,  sharing  in  the  responsibility  for  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  75,000,000  people  in  foreign  lands  and  for  the 
education  and  spiritual  care  of  no  small  portion  of  the 
100,000,000  in  our  own  land.  He  is  in  a  position  where  his 
voice  and  his  vote  along  with  his  prayer  and  his  gift  can 
directly  help  the  boy  who  seeks  an  education,  the  struggling 
church  which  is  trying  to  build  a  house  of  worship,  the 
community  which  has  lapsed  away  from  God,  or  the  race 
that  needs  a  friend.  The  individual  Congregationalist 
may  ignore  his  opportunity  if  he  chooses.  None  can  say 
him  nay.  Or  he  may  rise  eagerly  to  the  dignity  of  his  larger 
place  in  shaping  and  furthering  the  task  of  the  Christian 
church. 

TT  -fy  •        ^s  ^e  outcome  °f  tne  century's  readjustment 
™  .        Congregationalism  begins  the  twentieth  century 
™     with  remarkable  unity  and  homogeneity.     It  is 
not  the  unity  of  uniformity.      Customs,  modes  of  organiza- 
tion and  of  activity  vary  widely.      Forms  of  worship  range 
from   simplest  informality   to   noblest   liturgy.     There   is 
wide  diversity  of  theological  belief. 

None  the  less  a  real  unity  has  been  attained.  As  to  its 
intellectual  aspect  it  has  been  described  in  a  previous  section. 
But  the  bond  which  most  securely  holds  in  unity  our  six 
thousand  Congregational  churches  is  the  bond  of  a  common 
purpose  and  a  common  task.  Because  Congregationalists 
are  united  in  the  desire  to  bring  the  world  under  the  rule  of 
the  One  Master,  and  because  they  have  found  themselves 
able  to  agree  upon  the  means  and  measures  by  which  to 
work  toward  that  end,  they  find  themselves  drawn  into  ever 
closer  relations.  On  the  basis  of  this  united  purpose,  and 
in  the  use  of  the  agencies  which  they  have  created  for  their 
world -wide  work,  they  are  planning  together  for  the  future. 

If  we  are  to  keep  our  leadership  representative,  if  we  are 


82  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

to  avoid  the  perils  of  centralization,  if  all  our  cooperative 
effort  is  to  be  fraternal,  it  must  be  because  there  is  behind 
the  machinery  a  motive  power  none  other  than  the  passion 
of  good -will  seeking  effective  means  for  self-expression. 
The  best  harvesting  machine  will  never  bind  a  crop  or  thresh 
it  until  it  is  put  to  work  in  the  field.  We  have  created  a 
national  denominational  unity  not  for  the  sake  of  self- 
congratulation,  pleasant  as  that  might  be,  but  for  the  sake 
of  the  aggressive  propagation  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Our  best  celebration  of  the  Tercentenary  will  be  not 
a  proud  and  complacent  period  of  smug  reminiscence,  but 
an  eager  pressing  forward  to  the  tasks  of  the  new  day. 
Memory  ought  to  provide  us  not  with  satisfaction  alone, 
but  also  with  inspiration.  The  men  and  women  who 
wrought  mightily  for  God  in  days  gone  by  have  left  us  a 
sacred  trust. 

"  Therefore  let  us  also,  seeing  we  are  compassed 
about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  lay  aside 
every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset 
us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is 
set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the  author  and 
perfecter  of  our  faith." 


QUESTIONS 

1.  What  was   the   conspicuous   characteristic   of   the 
Nineteenth  Century? 

2.  Name  some  of  the  agencies  through  which  Con- 
gregationalism expressed  itself  against  slavery. 

3.  What  most  conspicuously  inaugurated  the  period 
of  intellectual  readjustment? 


Adjustment  to  Changing  Needs  83 

4.  What  has  been  the  result? 

5.  How  has  Congregationalism  been  related   to   the 
social  awakening? 

6.  Name  some    Congregationalists    who    have    been 
conspicuous  in  promoting  social  progress. 

7.  What  utterances  on  social  matters  were  made  by 
the  Councils  of  1865  and  1913? 

8.  Explain  the  lack  of  denominational  aggressiveness 
in  early  Congregationalism. 

9.  What  was  the  "  Albany  Convention  "  and  what 
did  it  do? 

10.  When  was  the  National  Council  organized  and  what 
was  the  occasion  for  its  organization? 

11.  What  readjustment  of  Congregational  agencies  has 
been  effected  and  what  are  some  of  the  results? 

12.  What  are  the  chief  factors  in  the  unity  of  Con- 
gregationalists? 


CHAPTER  VI 

PLACE  AND  RESPONSIBILITY  OF 
CONGREGATIONALISM 


Congregationalism's 

Unique  Place          hundred  Years  ag°  held  certain  con- 
victions.    These  have  entered  into 

the  unfolding  life  of  the  world.  They  have  influenced  every 
denomination  of  Christians.  But  in  a  special  and  distinct 
way  they  have  been  carried  forward  and  developed  by 
Congregationalism.  At  the  end  of  the  three  centuries 
what  shape  have  those  convictions  taken?  And  how  do 
they  stand  related  to  the  problems  of  today? 

The  question  is  vastly  more  important  than  many  realize. 
In  the  easy-going  friendliness  of  our  time  we  often  assume 
that  all  denominations  are  alike.  In  fact,  one  would  sup- 
pose from  what  he  occasionally  hears  that  there  are  no 
questions  left  about  which  judgments  can  differ,  nothing 
worth  standing  for.  The  notion  is,  of  course,  false  and 
therefore  disastrous.  Men  are  still  divided  into  many 
types  of  belief.  A  large  and  deplorable  group  has  little 
belief  of  any  kind.  In  the  interest  of  that  group  and  of 
every  other  it  is  the  duty  of  a  denomination  to  find  its  place 
and  to  endeavor  with  fidelity  and  vigor  to  fill  it.  Con- 
gregationalism believes  that  it  has  such  a  place  and  that  it  is 
of  unique  importance.  We  are  now  to  consider  its  nature 
and  responsibilities. 


Place  and  Responsibility  of  Congregationalism       85 

Congregationalists  have  no  disposition  to 
No  Exclusive  ,  .  ,  ,  . ^  ™ 

.  appeal  to  the  teaching  of  the  New  Testa- 

ment or  the  practice  of  the  early  church  as 
giving  divine  sanction  to  their  mode  of  organization.  To 
be  sure,  they  believe  their  organization  is  in  harmony  with 
that  teaching,  and  that  their  churches  are  shaped  on  the 
general  pattern  of  those  of  the  first  century.  But  they  do 
not  believe  that  the  New  Testament  was  written  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  the  form  of  the  organization  of  the 
church,  nor  that  the  external  features  of  early  organizations 
were  regarded  as  especially  important.  They  do  not  be- 
lieve that  any  church  "  was  divinely  appointed  for  all  times, 
countries  and  stages  of  civilization." 

Therefore,  Congregationalism  makes  no  exclusive  claims. 
It  is  not  "The  Church."  It  has  no  monopolies,  no  copy- 
rights, no  barrier  walls.  It  does  not  believe  that  the  world 
is  to  be  Congregationalized.  It  simply  believes  that  certain 
great  principles  which  it  holds  will  under  some  form  and 
name  control  the  final  shaping  of  organized  Christianity. 

_,  ,  „...„  A  denomination  which  thus  thinks  about  itself 
Good- Will  ,  ,  .  .  ,  ,  ., 

and  others  ought  to  show  a  spirit  of  good-will. 

Congregationalism  has  done  so.  Speaking  of  the  English 
Church  and  the  faith  which  he  personally  had  found  in  it, 
toward  the  end  of  his  life  John  Robinson  declared,  "  I 
esteem  so  many  in  that  church  as  are  truly  partakers  of 
that  faith  (as  I  account  many  thousands  to  be)  for  my 
Christian  brethren.  ...  I  have  always,  in  spirit  and 
affection,  all  Christian  fellowship  and  communion  with 
them,  and  am  most  ready  ...  to  express  the  same." 

When  Congregationalists  met  in  National  Council  in 
1865  in  order  to  make  perfectly  evident  that  we  hold  "  the 
several  households"  of  "  the  one  catholic  church,"  "  though 
called  by  different  names,"  to  be  "  the  one  body  of  Christ," 


86  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

they  said,  "  recognizing  the  unity  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  all  the  world,"  and  acknowledging  "  that  we  are  but  one 
branch  of  Christ's  people,  we  extend  to  all  believers  the  hand 
of  Christian  Fellowship." 

The  constitution  adopted  by  the  National  Council  of 
1871  had  this  statement:  "  We  especially  desire  in  prose- 
cuting the  work  of  evangelizing  our  own  land  and  the  world, 
to  observe  the  common  and  sacred  law,  that  in  the  wide 
field  of  the  world's  evangelism  we  do  our  work  in  friendly 
cooperation  with  all  those  who  love  and  serve  our  common 
Lord."  And  the  Council  Creed  of  1913  says,  "While 
affirming  the  liberty  of  our  churches  and  the  validity  of  our 
ministry,  we  hold  to  the  unity  and  catholicity  of  the  church 
of  Christ,  and  will  unite  with  all  its  branches  in  hearty 
cooperation;  and  will  earnestly  seek,  so  far  as  in  us  lies, 
that  the  prayer  of  our  Lord  for  his  disciples  may  be  an- 
swered, that  they  all  may  be  one." 

,    ^      ,      Those  are  fine  words  which  have  just 
Friendly  Deeds    ,  .JTT        U^JJ^T- 

been  quoted.     How  about  deedsr     rrom 

the  beginning  we  have  striven  to  cooperate  with  all  branches 
of  the  church  so  far  as  they  would  let  us.  We  have  not  only 
cherished  "  the  holy  catholic  church  "  as  an  ideal,  but  we 
have  tried  to  give  it  reality.  In  all  union  movements  such 
as  the  American  Bible  Society,  the  Y.M.C.A.,  the  Y.W.C.A., 
the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  the  Missionary  Edu- 
cation Movement,  the  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement 
and  hundreds  of  like  sort,  we  have  taken  an  eager  share. 
Our  National  Council  is  most  cordially  and  intimately 
related  to  the  great  federation  of  denominations  known  as 
the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 
Our  state  conferences  are  doing  their  utmost  to  promote 
close  relations  between  denominations  and  to  do  away  with 
the  over-churching  of  small  communities.  Again  and  again 


Place  and  Responsibility  of  Congregationalism      87 

we  have  given  up  our  technical  rights  in  order  to  further  the 
cause  of  cooperation.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
Congregationalism  "  is  willing  to  lose  and  often  has  lost 
members  and  prestige  in  order  to  be  fraternal." 

As  an  expression  of  the  same  spirit  our  churches  almost 
universally  welcome  to  the  communion  table  all  who  love 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity.  We  hold  that  along  the 
whole  line  of  church  relations  the  obligations  of  neighbor- 
liness  are  in  full  force. 

Congregationalism  has  gone  still  fur- 
Prophets  of  Unity      ,      5    °  ......         , 

ther.     Ever    since    the    possibility    of 

advancing  toward  the  organic  union  of  denominations  arose 
it  has  worked  toward  that  end.  Some  years  ago  prolonged 
and  earnest  effort  was  put  forth  to  bring  about  a  union  with 
the  United  Brethren  and  the  Methodist  Protestant  de- 
nominations. The  failure  to  secure  it  is  not  to  be  charged 
to  our  fault,  certainly  not  to  theirs.  It  was  due  simply  to 
the  fact  that  the  world  had  not  quite  reached  the  point 
where  such  a  step  was  feasible. 

Recently  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  has  made  the 
proposal  that  representatives  of  all  denominations  meet  to 
consider  questions  of  Faith  and  Order.  Congregationalists 
have  cordially  responded  to  the  proposals.  They  do  this 
not  because  they  have  any  more  liking  for  Episcopacy  than 
they  ever  had,  but  because  they  believe  the  proposal  sensible 
and  sincere.  A  like  welcome  is  sure  to  be  given  to  any 
proposal  which  looks  toward  the  coming  unity  of  Christ's 
Church. 

But  all  this  does  not  mean  that  Congre- 

j          gationalists  are  ready  to  abandon  their  con- 
Surrender  .      .  -          ,  ,  f  -A  rr,  j 

victions  for  the  sake  of  unity.     I  hey  do  not 
see  how  it  will  promote  the  Kingdom  of  God  for  the  de- 


Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


nomination  which  believes  in  fraternity  to  leave  the  field  to 
those  which  are  conspicuous  for  sectarianism. 

The  Congregational  denomination  holds  that  it  can  best 
serve  the  cause  of  all  denominations  by  being  loyal  to  its  own 
ideals.  If  it  is  to  help  bring  the  denominations  together  it 
must  develop  strength  for  the  task.  Such  results  are  not 
wrought  by  weakness.  Many  a  form  of  bigotry  has  en- 
listed whole-hearted  devotion.  How  much  more  should 
breadth  of  view  and  regard  for  others  command  it. 

More  than  ever,  therefore,  Congregational  leaders  are 
calling  for  a  strong  denominational  consciousness.  It  is 
not  a  movement  toward  sectarianism.  It  is  a  call  to  take 
our  place  faithfully  in  the  total  structure  of  Christian 
organization.  The  sectarian  spirit  emphasizes  peculiarities 
as  a  ground  for  suspicion  and  separation.  Congregation- 
alism desires  to  be  peculiar  only  in  putting  supreme  em- 
phasis upon  the  chief  truths  and  duties  which  constitute 
Christianity. 

Congregationalists  hold  with  one  of  their  great  thinkers, 
the   late  Dr.  R.  W.  Dale  of  Birmingham,  England,  that, 
"  The  only  adequate  justification  of  what  is  distinct 
and  characteristic  in  the  creed  or  polity  of  any  particular 
Christian  community  is  the  desire  to  assert  in  the  most 
effective  form  the  truths  in  which  all  Christian  com- 
munities agree." 
p          .        Considerable  space  has  been  given   to   the 

_  attitude  of  Congregationalism  toward  other 

Convictions    ,     ..         ™,  . 

bodies.     This    was    necessary    because    the 

theme  has  so  fundamental  a  place  in  its  thought.  We  now 
consider  the  convictions  around  which  Congregationalism 
centers.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  are  not 
claimed  as  its  peculiar  and  exclusive  possession.  Some 'of 
them  are  held  by  the  Church  universal.  Others  are  shared 


Place  and  Responsibility  of  Congregationalism      89 

by  many  denominations.  But  the  combination  of  these 
principles  and  the  relative  emphasis  given  them  represent 
certain  distinct  characteristics  of  the  Congregational  outlook. 
It  will  be  noted,  too,  in  the  paragraphs  which  follow,  that 
these  convictions  are  applied  in  characteristic  ways  to 
concrete  aspects  of  the  life  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

These  central  convictions  may  be  described  as  seven  in 
number: 

1.  The  Supreme  Place  of  the  Person  and  Message  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  Revealed  in  the  Scriptures  and  the 
Continuous  Leadership  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

2.  The   Missionary  Obligation  which    Summons  every 
Christian  and  Organization  of  Christians  to  Labor 
for  the  Kingdom  of  God  Throughout  the  World. 

3.  The  Duty  of  Making  the  Church  of  Christ  a  place  of 
Wide  Liberty. 

4.  The  Obligation  of  Shaping  All  the  Life  of  the  Church 
on  the  Democratic  Model. 

5.  The  Privilege  and  Duty  of  Close  Fellowship  between 
Christians. 

6.  Emphasis  upon  Personal  and  Social  Righteousness  as 
the  Practical  End  for  which  the  Church  Exists. 

7.  A  Confident  Conviction  of  the  Value  of  All  Knowl- 
edge. 

Let  us  inquire  more  in  detail  what  these  seven  things 
involve. 
__  ,     Among  the  myriad  facts  in  which  human  life 

T,  is  set,  one  standsout  in  clear  and  transcendent 

Redemption  .  _    .  ,  (t  _    , 

preeminence.     It  is  the  fact  that      God  so 

loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  Only  Begotten  Son."  To 
know  that  God  is,  that  He  is  a  God  of  Love,  that  He  has 
revealed  His  love  and  that  the  revelation  has  taken  the 
form  of  the  divine  life,  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus 


90  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

Christ,  is  to  possess  knowledge  in  comparison  with  which  all 
else  is  unimportant.  It  is  the  faith  of  Congregationalism 
that  this  supreme  fact  should  be  kept  in  clear  relief  at  the 
very  forefront  of  the  life  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Questions 
of  sacrament,  ritual,  ceremony,  organization  and  orders 
must  not  only  be  held  subordinate  but  must  be  so  completely 
subordinated  that  there  shall  be  no  slightest  risk  of  their 
obscuring  this  great  primary  thing. 

Two  men  or  two  denominations  to  whom  this  central 
truth  is  a  reality  should  feel  themselves  close  akin,  no 
matter  how  they  may  differ  on  the  things  just  named. 
It  is  both  the  comedy  and  tragedy  of  Christian  history 
that  men  have  allowed  petty  things  to  divide  hope- 
lessly those  professing  to  believe  in  the  stupendous  miracle 
of  divine  love  which  brought  Jesus  Christ  into  the 
world.  For  light  by  which  to  understand  the  message  of 
Christ,  and  for  strength  to  do  His  will,  Congregationalists 
believe  we  are  dependent  upon  the  continuous  ministry  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  To  wait  upon  Him  and  to  follow  obediently 
where  He  may  lead  are  fundamental  to  the  Christian  life. 

To  make  Christ  known  to  all  men  the 
The  Missionary  , ,  .  ..  ,.  .  ,  ,  . 

.  world  over,  to  win  them  to  discipleship, 

to  "  teach  them  all  things  whatsoever 
He  has  commanded  us,"  to  help  them  to  reshape  their 
relationships  and  institutions  according  to  the  mind  of 
Christ,  to  make  this  world  the  Kingdom  of  God  —  this  is 
the  task  to  which  the  Church  of  Christ  is  called.  Con- 
gregationalists had  some  vision  of  this  task  from  the 
beginning.  It  has  grown  and  broadened  with  the  passing 
years. 

As  has  been  shown,  the  Puritans  and  the  Pilgrims  were  the 
first  Protestants  upon  the  American  continent  to  plan  for 
carrying  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the  savages  about  them  who 


Place  and  Responsibility  of  Congregationalism      91 

menaced  their  very  life.  As  the  church  gained  in  strength  it 
organized  for  the  Christian  conquest  of  the  regions  beyond. 
Congregationalists  were  the  first  to  form  societies  for  the 
purpose  of  sending  missionaries  into  the  western  frontier. 
The  first  foreign  missionary  society  upon  the  American 
continent  had  its  origin  in  a  Congregational  college  and 
seminary,  and  assumed  permanent  form  in  a  Congregational 
convention.  Congregationalism  is  strong  today  because 
it  has  been  a  forth-putting  body,  and  it  will  continue  to 
increase  in  knowledge,  force  and  grace  only  as  it  adheres  to 
and  practices  the  eternal  truth  that  the  living  Church  of 
Christ  must  be  fundamentally  missionary.  Many  are  hop- 
ing and  praying  that  the  approaching  Tercentenary  Anni- 
versary may  be  a  time  of  great  advance  along  all  the  lines  of 
Kingdom  extension. 

TTT--J    T-t.  From  time  to  time  there  appears  on  the 

Wide  Liberty        ,      ,        P  ,.          ,     ,. 

calendar  of  one  of  our  leading  churches  a 

statement  including  these  two  sentences: 

"  A  Congregational  church  governs  itself,  makes  its 
own  creed,  if  it  wants  one,  frames  its  own  rules  of  order, 
organizes  its  own  life,  manages  its  own  work.  If  it  needs 
advice  about  these  things,  as  it  often  does,  it  calls  in  the 
neighboring  churches  to  advise  it;  but  they  have  no 
power  over  it." 

Such  has  been  the  thought  of  Congregationalism  throughout 
its  history. 

The  same  spirit  has  increasingly  pervaded  all  departments 
of  its  life.  It  does  not  make  rules  for  control  of  the  conduct 
of  its  members.  This  is  not  because  it  thinks  conduct 
unimportant,  but  because  it  believes  they  should  be  left 
face  to  face  with  the  one  Master.  There  is  no  inclination  to 
prosecute  ministers  for  heresy.  This  is  not  because  the 
denomination  does  not  care  what  men  teach  but  because  it 


92  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

does  not  conceive  that  a  church  has  the  right  to  dictate  to 
its  minister  what  he  shall  teach.  If  he  departs  from  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  it  is  believed  that  the  cure  will  be 
found  in  the  unwillingness  of  the  churches  to  listen  to  one 
who  has  lost  the  message  he  was  set  apart  to  proclaim. 

So  without  statute  making  bodies  or  a  prescribed  liturgy 
or  church  courts  or  canon  laws  or  bishops,  Congregation- 
alists  dwell  together  unbound  and  free.     They  believe  that 
only  thus  can  unity,  fidelity  and  sincerity  be  had. 
T,  .       The  whole  world  today  is  moving  toward  de- 

_  mocracy.     Politically,  educationally  and  in- 

y  dustrially  there  can  be  no  mistaking  the  trend. 
It  is  hard  to  overestimate  the  extent  to  which  this  is  due  to 
the  influence  of  the  early  Puritans  and  Pilgrims  of  New 
England.  Other  forces  and  other  creeds  have  had  their 
share.  But  three  centuries  ago  the  Pilgrim  began  to  see 
what  the  world  at  large  is  now  accepting  as  the  basis  of  its 
organized  life. 

Congregationalists  hold  fast  to  this  democratic  tradition. 
They  are  unhesitatingly  sure  that  the  Church  of  Christ 
should  build  her  life  broad  on  the  will  and  the  interest  of  all 
the  people.  No  one  is  clothed  with  authority,  no  one  is 
set  above  another.  The  minister  is  a  member  of  the 
church  he  serves,  subject  to  its  oversight  as  are  other  mem- 
bers. All  acts  of  the  church  are  acts  of  the  entire  body. 

Naturally  and  properly  as  individual  churches  have  grown 
in  size  and  as  the  denomination  has  spread  over  the  nation, 
there  has  been  an  increase  of  the  representative  phase  of 
democracy.  A  denomination  of  800,000  members  cannot 
meet  in  one  place  to  pass  upon  matters  of  common  work. 
But  these  representative  forms  do  not  impair  the  demo- 
cratic basis  of  the  denomination's  life. 

The  problem  of  democracy  is  to  find  the  method  which 


Place  and  Responsibility  of  Congregationalism      93 

shall  enable  the  will  of  the  majority  most  intelligently, 
promptly  and  effectively  to  express  itself  on  matters  which 
come  within  the  scope  of  its  right  to  decide.  This  is  what 
Congregationalism  is  trying  to  work  out. 

Many  other  denominations  share  the  democratic  ideal  — 
Baptists,  Disciples,  Unitarians,  etc.  About  forty  per  cent 
of  the  Christian  people  of  the  United  States  are  members  of 
communions  independently,  i.  e.,  democratically  organized. 
And  the  spirit  of  democracy  has  widely  influenced  those 
communions  which  in  one  measure  or  another  still  allow 
ecclesiastical  officials  to  control  powers  which  rightfully 
belong  to  all  the  people. 

Freedom  and  democracy  are  not  complete  ex- 
Fellowship  .       .  .  •  ,      , 
cept   as   they   exist   in   connection   with   the 

fraternal  spirit  of  fellowship.  Just  as  one  man  alone  is 
but  a  fragment  of  a  man,  so  an  isolated  Christian  is  a  frag- 
mentary Christian.  Congregationalism  is  profoundly  con- 
vinced of  the  importance  of  fellowship  in  all  its  forms.  The 
people  of  a  local  church  ought  to  live  in  closest  bonds  of 
charity,  mutual  helpfulness  and  united  effort.  The 
churches  of  a  denomination  should  draw  together  for  coun- 
sel and  encouragement  and  in  the  promotion  of  their 
common  undertakings.  The  denominations  should  come 
into  sympathetic  cooperative  relations.  So  all  along  the 
line  the  watchword  of  the  Church  of  Christ  should  be 
"  Together." 

There  is  one  aspect  of  this  subject  often  overlooked.  It 
is  that  of  our  fellowship  with  the  Christian  past.  Con- 
gregationalists  feel  that  it  is  both  a  duty  and  a  privilege  to 
seek  to  realize  our  oneness  with  the  generations  gone.  It 
means  much  to  them  to  feel  that  they  are  in  the  unbroken 
spiritual  succession  of  prophets,  apostles  and  saints. 


94  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

Changes  of  creed  or  method  or  emphasis  must  not  be 
suffered  to  break  this  historic  tie. 

T7      ,.     •    TT  It  will  be  remembered  that  Puritanism 

Emphasis  Upon  .. 

Righteousness  was  Pnmanly  a  Protest  against  corruption 
in  the  church.  The  dispute  about  vest- 
ments and  ceremonies  was  a  feature  of  the  larger  question. 
Congregationalists  have  tried  to  be  true  to  this  beginning. 
They  do  not  suppose  themselves  better  than  other  people. 
Their  knowledge  of  their  own  short  comings  forbids.  But 
they  have  held  steadily  to  the  conviction  that  a  religion 
which  is  primarily  formal  or  external  may  easily  be  worse 
than  no  religion.  Creeds,  sacraments  and  ritual  have  value 
only  when  and  so  far  as  they  help  to  produce  Christ-likeness. 
Religious  emotion  has  its  place,  but  consistent  living  and 
faithful  deeds  are  the  only  proof  that  one  has  in  his  heart  a 
new  life  begotten  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

As  we  have  seen  in  earlier  pages,  there  has  been  a  growing 
perception  of  the  place  of  social  righteousness.  A  "  saved 
man  in  a  saved  society  "  is  the  ideal  of  thoughtful  Christians 
everywhere.  The  test  which  the  church  must  next  meet 
is  that  of  her  ability  to  mould  the  organized  life  of  com- 
munities and  nations  according  to  the  mind  of  Christ.  If 
she  is  to  rise  to  this  task  she  must  have  the  staunch  virtues 
of  our  Puritan  fathers,  their  iron  in  her  blood,  their  strength 
if  not  their  stiffness,  in  her  structure. 

The  world  has  come  around  to  the  sober  dress  of  the 
Puritan  as  against  the  showy  garments  of  the  Cavalier. 
Men  wear  their  hair  cut  short  in  the  fashion  which  gave  the 
name  "  roundhead  "  to  the  Puritan  as  against  the  flowing 
wigs  of  King  Charles'  court.  It  is  time  for  a  like  imitation 
of  the  Puritan's  sturdy  devotion  to  the  will  of  the  all  holy 
God. 


Place  and  Responsibility  of  Congregationalism      95 

Conviction  of  the       Jt,  SOUndsT  a.  H"Ie  M  tO  "<%.  thU 

Value  of  Knowledge  phrase;  U  ls  the  c°mmo"  af  ""*" 
tion  of  men  everywhere  that  knowl- 
edge is  valuable.  Unfortunately  their  affirmations  have 
often  been  more  in  word  than  in  deed.  One  of  the  greatest 
of  the  sins  and  follies  which  disfigure  the  history  of  the 
church  of  Christ  has  been  opposition  to  the  growth  of 
knowledge.  One's  thought  at  once  turns  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  church  and  her  well  known  attitude  toward  in- 
tellectual progress. 

If  anyone  supposes,  however,  that  opposition  to  the 
increase  of  knowledge  is  confined  to  the  Roman  Church  or 
that  where  found  in  Protestantism  it  is  entirely  a  thing  of 
other  generations  and  other  lands,  he  is  grievously  mis- 
taken. There  are  still  American  Protestants,  not  a  few, 
who  suppose  themselves  to  be  serving  God  by  maintaining 
positions  which  science  has  proven  baseless,  and  by  refusing 
to  hear  what  enlightened  students  of  God's  Word  and 
World  have  to  say. 

Congregationalists,  of  course,  have  had  something  of  this 
sort  to  be  ashamed  of.  But  from  the  beginning  their 
tendency  has  been  the  other  way.  They  began  at  once  to 
champion  higher  education.  They  have  never  ceased  its 
championship.  Their  schools  have  been  free  with  the 
freedom  of  the  republic  of  letters,  as  well  as  loyal  to  the 
faith  of  Christ.  More  and  more  as  the  years  have  gone  by 
it  has  been  perceived  not  only  that  knowledge  is  desirable 
but  that  all  knowledge  is  desirable.  This  side  of  the 
denominational  life  has  been  described  in  a  former  chapter 
and  need  not  be  emphasized  here  except  to  point  out  some 
of  the  present  results  of  this  high  estimate  of  knowledge. 


96  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

_  .  .      ,      The  most  immediate  result  is,  of   course,  found 
p  in  the  spirit  of  progress  which  marks  the  de- 

nomination. It  does  not  fasten  upon  some  great 
name  and  refuse  to  go  further.  It  does  not  regard  any  set 
of  ideas  or  view  of  truth  as  a  finality.  The  little  group  of 
Congregationalists  in  London  in  1616  covenanted  "  to  walk 
together  in  all  God's  way  and  ordinances  according  as  he 
had  already  revealed  or  should  further  make  known  to 
them."  After  three  hundred  years  the  Council  creed  of 
1913  breathes  the  same  spirit.  It  declares  that  our  "  stead- 
fast allegiance  ...  to  the  faith  which  our  fathers  con- 
fessed "  recognizes  that  the  faith  "  which  from  age  to  age 
has  found  expression  in  the  historic  creeds  "  will  in  the 
future  find  new  expression  in  new  creeds.  For  we  depend, 
"  as  did  our  fathers,  upon  the  continued  guidance  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  lead  us  into  all  truth." 

The  Congregational  worship  and  practice  of  the  early 
centuries  were  very  different  from  those  of  today.  Our 
church  life  is  flexible.  We  are  not  bound  to  rigid  creedal 
tenets  or  strict  liturgical  forms,  or  to  an  unchangeable 
church  government.  We  are  free  to  experiment,  to  re- 
model, to  reject  and  revise,  to  launch  out  on  unexplored 
seas.  Innovations  are  not  sacrilege  with  us.  Our  relative 
simplicity  of  worship  may  be  "  enriched,"  or  our  church 
life  may  reach  out  into  new  fields  of  endeavor;  none  com- 
plains so  long  as  all  is  done  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  service 
for  the  sake  of  God  and  man.  We  have  always  emphasized 
the  value  of  the  forward  look.  In  missionary  spirit,  in 
education,  in  reform,  in  evangelism,  in  young  people's  work, 
we  have  been  explorers.  The  Pilgrim  Spirit  is  the  spirit 
of  the  pioneer. 


Place  and  Responsibility  of  Congregationalism      97 

-T       -, ,  The  time  has  come  when  education  in 

New  Educational    Al_     -  , ,     r      ,.  .  ,     . 

_  the  field  of  religion  and   morals  is  to 

Demands 

occupy  a  more  prominent  place  than 

it  has  ever  had.  There  must  be  a  new  emphasis,  better 
methods,  greater  enthusiasm.  The  whole  educational 
world  is  in  process  of  transformation.  The  church  must 
share  the  process.  She  must  find  a  way  to  cooperate  in  the 
efforts  which  states  and  cities  are  instituting  here  and  there 
to  make  place  for  religious  education  in  the  public  school 
system  without  violating  our  basic  principle  of  the  sepa- 
ration of  church  and  state. 

The  field  which  she  must  cover  is  a  vast  one.  The  great 
truths  about  God  and  man,  sin  and  salvation,  the  worlds 
seen  and  unseen,  are  to  be  taught.  Personal  conduct  with 
the  whole  range  of  its  obligations  must  be  covered.  The 
social  duties,  including  the  wide  fields  of  public  affairs, 
philanthropy,  reform,  sex  morality,  industry  and  inter- 
national relations,  need  to  be  enforced.  It  is  a  huge  task. 
The  Church  of  Christ  has  never  fairly  faced  it,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  fully  discharging  it. 

The  Congregational  churches  are  making  ready  to  bear 
their  share  in  this  great  new  era  of  education.  By  bringing 
together  in  affiliated  relations  their  Publishing  Society  and 
their  Education  Society  they  have  created  what  is  in  effect 
a  Board  of  Religious  Education.  This  Board  will  be  pre- 
pared to  render  to  the  churches  two  great  services.  The 
first  will  be  to  furnish  in  printed  form  the  amplest  and  most 
varied  helps  possible  for  all  their  manifold  educational 
needs.  The  other  will  be  to  maintain  a  corps  of  field 
specialists  who  shall  be  available  for  aiding  the  churches  in 
developing  their  educational  plans.  If  this  provision  in 
the  nation  at  large  shall  be  matched  by  vision  and  devotion 
on  the  part  of  local  leaders  everywhere,  we  shall  at  no  distant 


98  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

day  find  ourselves  in  possession  of  previously  unmatched 
resources  of  trained  and  devoted  lives. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  said  that  the  work  of 
planting  mission  Sunday  schools  so  successfully  conducted 
for  many  years  past  by  the  Congregational  Sunday  School 
and  Publishing  Society  will  for  the  future  be  prosecuted 
in  close  affiliation  with  the  Home  Missionary  Society. 
,p  ,  All  this  means  more  and  better  cooperative 

work  for  the  denomination.  Everyone  must 
"  do  his  bit,"  and  it  must  be  done  so  as  to  fit  into  a  great 
program.  Prayer,  speech,  plans,  service,  gifts  —  all  must 
be  multiplied  in  amount  and  potency.  In  the  Appendix  of 
this  book  there  is  the  outline  of  a  Tercentenary  Program. 
It  does  not  propose  that  we  project  new  lines  of  effort.  It 
asks  that  we  pour  new  tides  of  sacrificial  purpose  into  the 
great  unchanging  tasks  of  the  church.  Let  us  make  this 
Program  the  base  line  from  which  to  move  into  a  triumphant 
future.  Great  hazards  and  great  opportunities  face  the 
church  of  our  time.  By  God's  grace  we  have  the  power  to 
turn  both  into  realities  of  high  achievement. 

We  must  not  hesitate  to  pay  the  price.  When  the  Gains- 
borough church  in  those  dark  days  of  persecution  made  its 
covenant,  the  agreement  was  to  be  binding  "  whatsoever  it 
should  cost  them,  the  Lord  assisting  them."  For  their 
Master's  sake  —  and  for  our  sakes  —  the  men  of  those  days 
endured  damp,  vermin-haunted,  fever-smitten  dungeons, 
they  crossed  the  stormy  sea,  they  subdued  the  wilder- 
ness, they  braved  the  wrath  of  kings.  Let  us  meet  the 
tasks  and  problems  of  our  time  with  the  same  solemn  pur- 
pose of  heart,  the  same  blood-red  convictions. 


Place  and  Responsibility  of  Congregationalism      99 

QUESTIONS 

1.  What  view  does  Congregationalism  hold  relative 
to  its  organization  and  place  among  denominations? 

2.  How  has  Congregationalism  shown  its  willingness  to 
cooperate  with  other  denominations? 

3.  What  attitude  has  Congregationalism  taken  toward 
movements  for  church  unity? 

4.  Name    the    seven    central    convictions    for    which 
Congregationalism  stands. 

5.  Write  a  250  word  paper  in  which  you  set  forth  the 
principal  characteristics  in  these  seven  central  convictions. 

6.  Show  some  evidences  of  the  spirit  of  progress  in 
Congregationalism. 

7.  What  are  we  doing  to  meet  the  new  educational 
demands? 

8.  In  what  five  ways  must  we  cooperate  in  the  work 
of  the  church? 

9.  Have  you  read  the  Tercentenary  Program? 

10.  Suggest  ways  in  which  your  church  can  do  its  full 
share  to  accomplish  the  aims  of  this  program. 

(Suggestions  will  be  welcomed  by  the  Tercentenary  Com- 
mission, Fourteen  Beacon  Street,  Boston,  Massachusetts.) 


THE  MAYFLOWER  COMPACT 


ELIOT   PREACHING  TO  THE  INDIANS 


JOHN  COTTON 
CHARLES  G.   FINNEY 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS 
DWIGHT  L.  MOODY 


TIMOTHY  DWIGHT  J.  H.  FAIRCHILD 

MARK  HOPKINS 
JAMES  B.  ANGELL  SAMUEL  C.  ARMSTRONG 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  HORACE  BUSHNELL 

EDWARDS  A.   PARK 
AMORY  H.  BRADFORD  RICHARD  SALTER  STORRS 


APPENDIX 


ALONG  THE   CONGREGATIONAL  WAY 


HERALDS  AND  PIONEERS 


The  Weavers  of  Worcester,  1165, 
"scourged,  excommunicated  and 
banished  for  using  freedom  to 
worship  God." 

Wm.  of  Occam,  1270,  condemned 
by  Pope  John  xxiii  for  asserting 
the  supreme  authority  of  the 
Scriptures. 

John  Wyclif,  1380,  with  his  Bible 
done  into  English  and  his 


"  Lollards,"  so  alarmed  priests 
and  Parliament  that  an  Act  was 
passed  for  burning  heretics. 

Robert  Browne,  d.  1630,  "  the 
first  Englishman  of  strong  in- 
tellectual gifts  to  win  distinction 
as  a  preacher  of  separation." 

John  Greenwood,  Henry  Barrowe 
and  John  Penry,  martyrs,  1593. 


OF  THE  MAYFLOWER  COMPANY,  1620 


Wm.  Brewster,  d.   1644,    Ruling 

Elder. 

Wm.  Bradford,  d.  1657,  Governor. 
John  Carver,  d.  1621,  Governor. 
Samuel  Fuller,  Physician. 


John  Robinson,  d.  1625;  remained 
at  Leyden. 

Myles  Standish,  d.  1656,  Captain. 

Edward  Winslow,  d.  1655,  Gov- 
ernor. 


A  HUNDRED  NOTED  NAMES 
Residents  of  England  are  indicated  by  (E) 


Abbot,  Jacob,  d.  1879,  Author. 
Allon,  Henry,  D.D.  (E.),  Author, 

ed.  British  Quarterly,  d.  1892. 
Angell,   James  B.,  d.  1916,  U.  S. 

Min.  China,  Pres.  Mich.  Univ. 
Armstrong,    Sam'l    C.,   d.    1893, 

Brig.   Gen.;  founder  Hampton 

Inst. 
Atkinson,  Geo.  H.,  pioneer  miss'y 

to  Oregon,  1848. 


Bacon,  Leonard,  D.D.,  d.  1881, 
pastor,  author,  Prof.  Yale  Col- 
lege, one  of  founders  of  The 
Independent. 

Barrett,  G.  S.,  Rev.  (E.),  d.  1916. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  D.D.,  d. 
1887. 

Beecher,  Lyman,  D.D.,  d.  1863. 

Berry,  Chas.  A.,  D.D.  (E.),  d. 
1899. 


102 


Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


Bingham,  Hiram,  D.D.,  d.  1908, 
miss'y  Sandwich  Isls. 

Binney,    Thos.,    LL.D.     (E.),    d. 

1874. 

Bliss,  Edwin  E.,  D.D.,  d.  1892, 
miss'y  Amer.  Board  in  Turkey. 

Bradford,  AmoryH.,  D.D.,  d.  1911. 
Moderator  National  Council. 

Brainerd,  David,  d.  1747,  miss'y 
to  Indians. 

Bushnell,  Horace,  D.D.,  d.  1876, 
pastor  and  theologian. 

Capen,  Samuel  B.,  d.  1915,  Pres. 

S.  S.  Soc.  and  Amer.  Board. 

Chamberlain,  Joshua  L.,  Gen'l, 
Gov.  Maine  1867-70,  Pres. 
Bowdoin  Col. 

Chapin,  Aaron  L.,  D.D.,  d.  1892, 
Pres.  Beloit  Col. 

Cutler,  Manasseh,  LL.D.,  d.  1823, 
one  of  founders  of  Marietta 
Col.,  O. 

Dale,  R.  W.,  D.D.  (E.),  d.  1895, 
pastor,  author,  theologian. 

DeForest,   J.  K.,  D.D.,  d.  1911, 

miss'y  Amer.  Board  in  Japan. 

Dexter,  Henry  Martyn,  D.D.,  d. 
1890,  Ed.  Cong'list,  writer  and 
authority  on  Cong'l  history  and 
usage. 

Diman,  Jere.  Lewis,  d.  1881, 
Prof.  Brown  Univ.,  Historian. 

Dingley,  Nelson  D.,  Editor,  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  Mod'r  Nat. 
Council. 

D'ooge,  Martin  Luther,  d.  1915, 
Prof,  of  Greek,  Univ.  Mich., 
Director  Amer.  School  of  Arch., 
Athens. 

Dwight,  Timothy,  LL.D.,  d.  1817, 
Pres.  Yale  Col.,  Theologian. 


Edwards,     Jonathan,     D.D.,    d. 

1758,      Pastor      Northampton, 

Mass.,  miss'y  to  Indians,  Pres. 

Princeton      Col.,      first     great 

American  philosopher. 
Eliot,  John,  d.  1690,  "  Apostle  to 

the  Indians." 
Emmons,    Nathanael,    D.D.,    d. 

1840,  Pastor  and  Theologian. 

Fairbairn,  Andrew  Martin,  LL.D., 
d.  1912,  Prin.  Mansfield  Col., 
Oxford  (E.),  Theologian. 

Fairchild,    James    H.,   D.D.,   d. 

1902,  Theologian,  Pres.  Oberlin 
Col. 

Finney,    Charles    G.,    d.    1875, 

Evangelist,   founder  and   Pres. 

of  Oberlin  College. 
Fisher,  Geo.  P.,  D.D.,  d.   1909, 

Prof.  Yale  Univ.,  ecclesiastical 

historian. 
Ford,  H.  Clark,  d.  1915,  banker. 

Goodell,  Wm.,  D.D.,d.  1871,  mis- 
sionary to  Turkey. 

Grout,  Lewis,  Rev.,  d.  1905,  mis- 
sionary to  Africa. 

Hamlin,  Cyrus,  D.D.,  d.  1900, 
miss'y  Amer.  Brd.,  Turkey. 

Hardy,  Alpheus,  d.  1887,  Boston 
merchant,  promoter  of  Missions. 

Harvard,  John,  Rev.,  d.  1638,  first 
benefactor  of  Harvard  Col. 

Headley,  P.  C.,  Rev.,   d.    1903, 

author. 
Hitchcock,     Edward,     d.     1864, 

Geologist,  Pres.  Amherst  Col. 
Hopkins,  Mark,  LL.D.,  d.   1887, 

Pres.      Amer.      Board,      Pres. 

Williams  Col. 
Hopkins,  Samuel,  D.D.,  d.  1803, 

Theologian. 
Home,  C.  Sylvester  Rev.,  (E.)  d. 

1914,  Yale  lecturer. 


Along  the  Congregational  Way 


103 


Howard,  O.  O.,  d.  1909,  Major 

Gen.,  chief  Freedmen's  Bureau, 

editor     and     proprietor      The 

Advance. 
Johns,  Griffith,  D.D.,  (E)  d.  1912, 

miss'y  London  M.  Soc.  China. 
Livingstone,  David  (E.),  d.  1873, 

missionary  and  explorer,  Africa. 
Mason,    Lowell,    d.    1872,    Mus. 

Doc.,     "  father    of     American 

church  music." 
Mather,   Cotton,   D.D.,  d.   1725, 

pastor  Second  Church  in  Boston, 

author. 
Mather,  Increase,  D.D.,  d.  1723, 

co-pastor  Second  Church,  Pres. 

Harvard  Col. 
Mead,  C.  M.,  D.D.,  d.  1911,  Prof. 

Andover  and  Hartford;  author. 
Milton,  John  (E.),  d.  1674,  author, 

poet. 
Mofifat,  Robert,    D.D.,   d.    1883, 

miss'y  London    M.    S.    Africa, 

father-in-law  of  Livingstone. 

Moody,  Dwight  L.,  d.  1899, 
evangelist. 

Munger,  T.  T.,  D.D.,  d.  1910, 
Pastor,  author. 

Nason,  Elias,  d.  1887,  author  and 
compiler  of  hymn-books. 

Neesura,  Joseph,  Japan,  founder 
Doshisha. 

Nettleton,  Asahel,  D.D.,  d.  1844, 
evangelist  and  hymn-writer. 

Packard,  Alpheus  S.,  d.  1884, 
author,  Prof.  Bowdoin  Col. 

Palmer,  Alice  Freeman,  Mrs.,  d. 
1902,  President  Wellesley  Col. 

Palmer,  Ray,  D.D.,  d.  1887,  pas- 
tor, poet. 

Parker,  Jos.,  D.D.  (E.),  d.  1902, 
City  Temple,  London,  preacher, 
author,  and  lecturer. 


Patton,  W.  W.,  D.D.,  d.  1889, 
pastor,  founder  and  editor  The 
Advance. 

Pearsons,  D.  K.,  benefactor  of 
colleges  and  schools. 

Porter,  Jeremiah,  D.D.,  pioneer 
preacher  on  site  of  Chicago. 

Porter,  Noah,  D.D.,  d.  1892,  pro- 
fessor at  Yale,  philosopher, 
lexicographer. 

Powell,  James,  D.D.,  d.  1881,  Sec. 
Amer.  Miss'y  Assoc. 

Prentiss,  Eliz.  Payson,  d.  1878, 
authoress. 

Punchard,  Geo.,  D.D.,  d.  1880, 
founder  and  editor  Boston 
Traveller,  author  of  Hist. 
Congl'ism. 

Quint,  Alonzo  H.,  D.D.,  pastor, 
statistician,  authority  in  mat- 
ters of  polity. 

Riggs,  Elias,  D.D.,  d.  1901,  miss'y 
Amer.  Board  in  Turkey,  trans- 
lator of  Scriptures. 

Riggs,  Stephen  R.,  d.  1883,  miss'y 
to  the  Dakota  Indians. 

Seelye,     Julius     H.,     D.D.,     d. 

1895,  author,  philosopher,  Pres. 
Amherst  Col. 

Shaw,  Lemuel,  LL.D.,  d.   1861, 

jurist. 

Silliman,  Benj.,  d.  1864,  chemist, 
geologist,  Prof.  Yale  Col. 

Stearns,  Lewis  F.,  D.D.,  d.  1892, 

Prof.  Albion  Col.,  BangorTheo. 

Sem. 
Storrs,  Richard  S.,  D.D.,  d.  1900, 

pastor,     editor,     Pres.     Amer. 

Board. 
Stoughton,   John,  D.D.   (E.),    d. 

1897,  historian. 
Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  Mrs.,  d. 

1896,  author  of  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  etc. 


104 


Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


Strong,  Josiah,  D.D.,  d.  1916,  sec. 

O.  H.  M.  S.,  writer  on  social 

subjects. 
Sturtevant,  Julian  M.,  D.D.,  d. 

1886,    pioneer,     Illinois    Band, 

founder   and    Prof,   in   Illinois 

Col. 
Taylor,  Nathanael,  D.D.,  d.  1858, 

theologian,  leader  of  the  "  New 

Haven  School." 
Thompson,  Ralph  Wardlaw,  D.D. 

(E.),  d.  1915,  Sec.  London  Miss. 

Soc. 
Trumbull,  Henry  Clay,  D.D.,  d. 

1903,  army  chaplain,  editor  S.  S. 

Times. 

Turner,  Asa,  D.D.,  d.  1885,  pio- 
neer, Iowa  Band. 
Tyler,  Bennet,  D.D.,  theologian, 

leader    of    the    "East  Winsor 

School." 
Waddington,  John,  D.D.  (E.),  d. 

1880,  historian. 
Walker,  Amasa,  LL.D.,  d.  1875, 

political  economist,  lecturer  at 

Oberlin  and  Amherst  Colleges, 

member  of  Congress. 
Walker,  Francis  A.,  d.  1897,  Brig. 

Gen.,  supt.  census,  Pres.  Mass. 

Inst.  Technology. 


Ward,  Eliz.  Stuart  Phelps,  Mrs., 
d.  1911,  authoress. 

Ward,  Jos.,  D.D.,  Pres.  Yankton 
Col.,  S.  Dak. 

Ward,  William  Hayes,  LL.D.,  d. 
1916,  Archaeologist,  author,  editor. 

Warren,  I.  P.,  D.D.,  d.  1892,  Sec. 
Seaman's  Friend  Soc.,  Amer. 
Tract  Soc.,  proprietor  and  Ed. 
Christian  Mirror. 

Washburn,  Geo.,  D.D.,  d.  1915, 
Pres.  Roberts  Col.,  Constan- 
tinople. 

Watts,  Isaac,  D.D.  (E.),  d.  1748, 
pastor  and  hymn-writer. 

Whitman,  Marcus,  Rev.,  d.  1847, 
pioneer  missionary  "  who  saved 
Oregon  to  the  Union." 

Williams,  John,  Rev.,  d.  1839, 
miss'y  L.  M.  S.,  South  Sea 
Islands. 

Williams,  S.  Wells,  LL.D.,  d. 
1884,  China. 

Woolcott,  S.,  D.D.,  d.  1886,  Sec. 
Ohio  H.  M.  S.,  author  of 
hymns. 


THE   PURITAN 


THE  FOLLOWING  FAMOUS  PASSAGE  is  TAKEN  FROM  LORD  MACAULAY'S 
ESSAY  ON  JOHN  MILTON 

THE  Puritans  were  men  whose  minds  had  derived  a  peculiar 
character  from  the  daily  contemplation  of  superior  beings  and  eternal 
interests.  Not  content  with  acknowledging,  in  general  terms,  an 
overruling  Providence,  they  habitually  ascribed  every  event  to  the 
will  of  the  Great  Being,  for  whose  power  nothing  was  too  vast, 
for  whose  inspection  nothing  was  too  minute.  To  know  him,  to 
serve  him,  to  enjoy  him,  was  with  them  the  great  end  of  existence. 
They  rejected  with  contempt  the  ceremonious  homage  which  other 
sects  substituted  for  the  pure  worship  of  the  soul.  Instead  of  catch- 
ing occasional  glimpses  of  the  Deity  through  an  obscuring  veil,  they 
aspired  to  gaze  full  on  his  intolerable  brightness,  and  to  commune 
with  him  face  to  face.  Hence  originated  their  contempt  for  terres- 
trial distinctions.  The  difference  between  the  greatest  and  the 
meanest  of  mankind  seemed  to  vanish,  when  compared  with  the 
boundless  interval  which  separated  the  whole  race  from  him  on 
whom  their  own  eyes  were  constantly  fixed.  They  recognized  no 
title  to  superiority  but  his  favor;  and,  confident  of  that  favor,  they 
despised  all  the  accomplishments  and  all  the  dignities  of  the  world. 
If  they  were  unacquainted  with  the  works  of  philosophers  and  poets, 
they  were  deeply  read  in  the  oracles  of  God.  If  their  names  were 
not  found  in  the  registers  of  heralds,  they  were  recorded  in  the 
Book  of  Life.  If  their  steps  were  not  accompanied  by  a  splendid 
train  of  menials,  legions  of  ministering  angels  had  charge  over  them. 
Their  palaces  were  houses  not  made  with  hands;  their  diadems, 
crowns  of  glory  which  should  never  fade  away.  On  the  rich  and 
the  eloquent,  on  nobles  and  priests,  they  looked  down  with  con- 
tempt; for  they  esteemed  themselves  rich  in  a  more  precious  treasure, 
and  eloquent  in  a  more  sublime  language,  nobles  by  the  right  of  an 
earlier  creation,  and  priests  by  the  imposition  of  a  mightier  hand. 
The  very  meanest  of  them  was  a  being  to  whose  fate  a  mysterious 
and  terrible  importance  belonged,  on  whose  slightest  action  the 
spirits  of  light  and  darkness  looked  with  anxious  interest,  who  had 
been  destined,  before  heaven  and  earth  were  created,  to  enjoy  a 
felicity  which  should  continue  when  heaven  and  earth  should  have 
passed  away.  Events  which  shortsighted  politicians  ascribed  to 
earthly  causes,  had  been  ordained  on  his  account.  For  his  sake 
empires  had  risen,  and  flourished  and  decayed.  For  his  sake  the 
Almighty  had  proclaimed  his  will  by  the  pen  of  the  evangelist  and 
the  harp  of  the  prophet.  He  had  been  wrested  by  no  common 
deliverer  from  the  grasp  of  no  common  foe.  He  had  been  ransomed 
by  the  sweat  of  no  vulgar  agony,  by  the  blood  of  no  earthly  sacri- 
fice. It  was  for  him  that  the  sun  had  been  darkened,  that  the  rocks 
had  been  rent,  that  the  dead  had  risen,  that  all  nature  had  shuddered 
at  the  sufferings  of  her  expiring  God. 


IMPORTANT  EVENTS  IN  CONGREGA- 
TIONAL HISTORY 

1582.  Browne's  "  Statement  of  Congregational  Principles "  pub- 
lished. 

1592.  First  known  Congregational  church,  completely  and  formally 

organized  in  London. 

1593.  John  Greenwood,   Henry   Barrowe  and  John   Penry  hanged; 

the  last  of  the  Congregational  martyrs  put  to  death.  Fifty- 
six  members  of  the  First  Congregational  church,  London, 
imprisoned. 

1609.  John  Robinson,  with  the  Pilgrims  of  Scrooby  Church,  settled 
in  Leyden. 

1620.  Pilgrims  left  Leyden,  July  21;  sailed  from  Plymouth,  Sep- 
tember 16;  signed  civil  compact  in  the  "  Mayflower," 
November  21;  landed  at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Decem- 
ber 11  (O.S.),  December  21  (N.S.). 

1628.  A  company  of  Puritans  settled  in  Salem.  Another  at  Boston, 
1630. 

1636.  Roger  Williams  banished  from  Massachusetts  Colony.  Har- 
vard College  founded. 

1691.  Heads  of  Agreement  adopted,  in  London  between  Presby- 
terians and  Congregationalists.  Episcopalians,  Baptists  and 
Quakers  exempted  from  taxes  for  the  support  of  Con- 
gregational churches  in  Massachusetts. 

1709.  General  Association  of  Connecticut  ministers  organized;  the 
first  State  organization. 

1740-2.  Great  Revival  of  Religion  in  New  England. 

1750.  Jonathan  Edwards,  forced  to  leave  the  Church  at  North- 
ampton, went  to  Stockbridge,  a  missionary  to  the  Indians. 

1784.  Saybrook  Platform,  by  revision  of  statutes,  ceased  to  be 
civil  law  in  Connecticut. 

1795.     The  London  Missionary  Society  instituted. 

1801.  Plan  of  Union  adopted  between  the  General  Congregational 
Association  of  Connecticut  and  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church. 

1808.  The  first  theological  seminary  opened  at  Andover,  Massa- 
chusetts. 


Important  Events  107 


1810.  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 
established  by  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts. 
First  Sunday  School  in  Massachusetts,  at  Beverly. 

1815.  Unitarianism  avowed  by  some   Massachusetts  Congregation- 

alists. 

1816.  American  Education  Society  formed. 

1826.  The  American  Home  Missionary  Society  organized;  name 
changed  in  1896  to  the  Congregational  Home  Missionary 
Society. 

1831.  Congregational  Union  of  England  and  Wales  organized. 

1832.  Massachusetts   Sabbath   School   Society   organized    (later   the 

Congregational  Sunday  School  and  Publishing  Society). 

1846.     American  Missionary  Association  organized. 

1852.  General  Convention  of  Congregational  Churches  at  Albany, 

N.  Y.;  End  of  Plan  of  Union. 

1853.  Congregational  Church  Building  Society  formed. 

1865.  First  National  Council  of  Congregational  Churches  held  at 
Boston,  June  14-24. 

1871.    Triennial  National  Council  established  at  Oberlin,  Ohio. 
1891.     First  International  Congregational  Council.     Held  in  London. 
1899.     Second  International  Council.     Held  in  Boston. 

1907.  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society  reorganized,  federat- 

ing with  state  bodies. 

1908.  The  Third  International  Council.     Held  in  Edinburgh. 

1909.  The  "  Together  Campaign,"  which  freed  the  missionary  soci- 

eties from  debt. 

1913.  The  National  Council  reorganized,  assuming  administrative 
direction  of  mission  agencies. 


STATEMENT  OF  FAITH  AND  POLITY 
ADOPTED  BY  NATIONAL  COUNCIL 

KANSAS  CITY,  OCTOBER,  1913 

The  Congregational  Churches  of  the  United  States,  by  delegates 
in  National  Council  assembled,  reserving  all  the  rights  and  cherished 
memories  belonging  to  this  organization  under  its  former  con- 
stitution, and  declaring  the  steadfast  allegiance  of  the  churches  com- 
posing the  Council  to  the  faith  which  our  fathers  confessed,  which 
from  age  to  age  has  found  its  expression  in  the  historic  creeds  of  the 
Church  universal  and  of  this  communion,  and  affirming  our  loyalty 
to  the  basic  principles  of  our  representative  democracy,  hereby  set 
forth  the  things  most  surely  believed  among  us  concerning  faith, 
polity,  and  fellowship: 

Faith 

We  believe  in  God  the  Father,  infinite  in  wisdom,  goodness,  and 
love;  and  in  Jesus  Christ,  his  Son,  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  who  for 
us  and  our  salvation  lived  and  died  and  rose  again  and  liveth  ever- 
more; and  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  taketh  of  the  things  of  Christ 
and  revealeth  them  to  us,  renewing,  comforting,  and  inspiring  the 
souls  of  men.  We  are  united  in  striving  to  know  the  will  of  God  as 
taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  in  our  purpose  to  walk  in  the 
ways  of  the  Lord,  made  known  or  to  be  made  known  to  us.  We 
hold  it  to  be  the  mission  of  the  Church  of  Christ  to  proclaim  the 
gospel  to  all  mankind,  exalting  the  worship  of  the  one  true  God,  and 
laboring  for  the  progress  of  knowledge,  the  promotion  of  justice, 
the  reign  of  peace,  and  the  realization  of  human  brotherhood. 
Depending,  as  did  our  fathers,  upon  the  continued  guidance  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  lead  us  into  all  truth,  we  work  and  pray  for  the 
transformation  of  the  world  into  the  kingdom  of  God;  and  we  look 
with  faith  for  the  triumph  of  righteousness  and  the  life  everlasting. 

Polity 

We  believe  in  the  freedom  and  responsibility  of  the  individual 
soul,  and  the  right  of  private  judgment.  We  hold  to  the  autonomy 
of  the  local  church  and  its  independence  of  all  ecclesiastical  control. 
We  cherish  the  fellowship  of  the  churches,  united  in  district,  state, 
and  national  bodies,  for  counsel  and  cooperation  in  matters  of 
common  concern. 

The  Wider  Fellowship 

While  affirming  the  liberty  of  our  churches,  and  the  validity  of 
our  ministry,  we  hold  to  the  unity  and  catholicity  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,  and  will  unite  with  all  its  branches  in  hearty  cooperation; 
and  will  earnestly  seek,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  that  the  prayer  of  our 
Lord  for  his  disciples  may  be  answered,  that  they  all  may  be  one. 


A  TERCENTENARY  PROGRAM 

Proposed  by  the  Commission  on  Missions 

How  shall  we  celebrate  the  Three  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrims?  Well,  for  one  thing  there  will  be  in  the 
Summer  or  Fall  of  1920  a  great  meeting  of  Congregationalists.  It 
will  be  composed  of  delegates  from  all  nations,  meeting  under  the 
auspices  of  the  International  Congregational  Council.  If  possible 
it  should  be  held  at  Plymouth.  There  ought  not  to  be  less  than 
3,000  persons  present  throughout.  We  will  celebrate  in  speech  and 
song  our  spiritual  forbears.  We  will  have  conference  together  con- 
cerning present  day  needs,  doctrines  and  duties. 

All  this  is  well.  But  ever  since  such  a  meeting  began  to  be 
discussed  it  has  been  felt  that  it  is  not  enough.  We  must  not  only 
say  something  to  commemorate  the  Pilgrims  but  do  something. 
And  that  something  must  be  in  the  line  of  the  blood-red  convictions 
which  stirred  the  hearts  of  the  Plymouth  immigrants. 

What  shall  it  be? 

After  much  conference  our  various  denominational  agencies  have 
agreed  in  submitting  through  the  Commission  on  Missions  a  program 
of  practical  activities  with  definite  goals  covering  the  years  1916- 
1920. 

Item  One 

It  is  proposed  that  we  give  much  effort  to  clear  our  minds  and 
increase  our  influence  in  the  lines  of  the  Pilgrim  outlook  on  church 
and  state.  Theirs  was  no  petulant  revolt  against  personal  tyranny. 
It  was  the  deliberate  endeavor  to  institute  a  better  human  order. 
There  was  not  much  leisure  on  the  "  Mayflower,"  or  in  their  wilderness 
home,  to  put  their  thoughts  into  formal  shape.  But  their  deeds 
were  sufficient.  With  easy  minds  they  cast  off  the  old  tyrannies  in 
church  and  state  and  moved  toward  freedom  and  democracy. 

If  we  are  to  celebrate  their  memory  by  following  their  example, 
we  must  find  a  way  in  our  complex  age  to  secure  an  ampler  freedom, 
a  more  perfect  democracy,  a  truer  fraternity.  There  is  great  need 
of  it.  The  church  of  Christ  has  only  begun  on  its  social  task.  Let 
us,  therefore,  fill  these  anniversary  years  with  "  an  intelligent  study 
and  setting  forth  of  those  political  and  religious  convictions,  which 
brought  the  Pilgrims  to  America."  And  let  us  apply  them  to  the 
needs  of  the  world  of  today. 

Item  Two 

There  is  upon  us  the  ever  present  duty  of  recruiting  the  ranks  of 
the  army  of  disciples  of  Christ.  We  must  make  this  an  evangelistic 
era.  To  bring  people  to  Christ  as  their  Saviour  and  Lord,  to  enroll 
them  as  disciples  and  fellowworkers  is  our  fundamental  business. 
Right  along  with  it  is  the  duty  of  conserving  our  membership. 


110  Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 

Leakage  has  been  very  heavy.  Last  year  22,968  names  were 
"  revised "  from  our  rolls.  So  it  runs  every  year.  People  lapse 
from  church  membership.  Letters  lie  in  trunks.  Therefore,  a  goal 
is  suggested  which  includes  accessions  both  by  letter  and  confession. 
The  figure  is  a  half  million  —  one  hundred  thousand  a  year  for  five 
years.  This  would  in  round  numbers  mean  that  each  eight  persons 
in  our  Congregational  fellowship  must  bring  into  the  membership 
of  our  churches  one  person  by  letter  or  confession  each  year.  Not 
an  excessive  task  surely,  —  if  we  really  believe  in  it  and  work  at  it. 
And  shall  we  then  try  to  win  people  merely  in  order  to  make  a 
big  numerical  showing?  It  may  fairly  be  doubted  whether  there  is 
anybody  in  our  fellowship  who  is  capable  of  such  folly.  But  it  may 
fairly  be  hoped  that  a  numerical  goal  will  help  us  all  to  keep  in 
mind  the  primary  duty  of  winning  people  to  Christ. 

Item  Three 

We  need  ministers,  missionaries,  parish  assistants.  Year  after 
year  for  many  years  past  the  number  graduating  from  our  training 
schools  has  been  from  100  to  150  less  than  the  need.  We  have 
made  up  the  shortage  mainly  by  drawing  on  other  denominations. 
All  are  agreed  that  we  ought  to  train  our  own  workers  and  not  ask 
other  bodies  to  do  it  for  us.  What  shall  be  done  then?  Why  not 
tell  our  young  people  and  their  parents  and  their  teachers  and  their 
pastors?  Tell  them  how  great  is  the  harvest,  how  few  the  laborers, 
how  blessed  the  task.  Tell  them  we  are  increasingly  trying  to  es- 
tablish conditions  under  which  they  can  work  with  hope  and  power. 

All  this,  it  is  proposed  to  do.  Through  every  part  of  our  fellow- 
ship by  means  of  all  our  agencies,  we  must  sound  out  the  call  for 
life  service.  At  the  present  time  something  over  400  young  Con- 
gregationalists  are  in  training  for  the  kinds  of  life  work  above  men- 
tioned. There  ought  to  be  by  the  end  of  1920  just  twice  as  many. 
This  would  give  us  265  recruits  each  year  to  fill  the  gaps  made  by 
death  and  other  losses  and  to  take  up  new  work. 

Item  Four 

We  must  raise  more  money  for  this  work.  Twelve  years  ago, 
after  careful  consideration,  we  adopted  an  Apportionment  Goal  of 
$2,000,000  per  year.  Counting  in  such  gifts  of  the  living,  as  really 
help  toward  the  current  budget  of  our  Boards,  we  are  raising  about 
$1,500,000.  We  have  a  half  million  to  go.  Some  doubt  whether  we 
can  do  it.  What  they  mean  is  that  they  doubt  whether  we  will 
do  it. 

For,  of  course,  when  one  realizes  that  800,000  Congregationalists 
multiplied  by  52  weeks,  multiplied  by  4  4-5  cents  will  produce 
$2,000,000,  he  knows  that  the  only  question  before  the  house  is 
whether  we  want  to  do  the  thing  or  not.  Let  us  agree  that  we 
want  to  and  then  do  it. 


A  Tercentenary  Program  111 

Item  Five 

It  is  proposed  to  build  a  monument  to  the  Pilgrims.  Granite? 
Bronze?  Well,  surely  not,  if  we  consult  their  tastes.  Let  us  build 
the  monument  out  of  human  lives  coined  into  a  great  permanent 
fund.  The  income  of  this  money  will  be  devoted  to  some  cause  or 
causes  which  make  for  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  National  Council 
of  1915  agreed  that  the  amount  to  be  sought  and  the  ends  to  which 
its  income  shall  be  devoted  may  best  be  decided  by  the  Council  of 
1917.  It  ought  to  be  a  big  sum  to  stand  forever  as  a  Pilgrim  me- 
morial yielding  its  blessing  to  all  the  generations  ahead. 

But  by  what  method  shall  all  these  five  things  be  brought  about? 
Will  it  come  to  pass  simply  by  agreeing  that  we  want  it  done? 
None  of  us  is  under  any  delusion  about  that.  We  are  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  one  single  unvarying  process  through  which  things 
are  brought  to  pass  for  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Devoted  and  prayer- 
ful effort  intelligently  put  forth  by  individual  Congregationalists, 
by  local  churches,  by  organizations  of  our  churches,  state  and 
national  —  this  is  the  only  way. 

And  it  all  comes  back  to  this  — 

Will  you  get  under  this  big,  far-reaching  program  for  celebrating 
the  Pilgrim  landing  and  advancing  the  Kingdom  of  God? 


STATISTICS 


COMPARISONS 

Comparisons  between  the  figures  reported    and    printed  for  the  years  1914  and 
1915  in  the  Congregational  YEAR-BOOKS  of  these  years: 
Churches: 

Number  of  churches,  January  1,  1915 6,093 

Churches  added  during  1915 96 

Churches  dropped  during  1915 86 

Net  gain 10 

Number  of  churches,  January,  1916  6,103 

Number  of  churches,  A.  B.  C.  F.  M 676 

Grand  total      6,779 

Membership: 

Number  of  members,  January  1,  1915       763,182 

Admitted  during  1915 70,026 

Dismissed  during  1915       52,794 

Net  gain 17,232 

Number  of  members,  January  1,  1916        780,414 

Admitted  on  confession  of  faith: 

Admitted  during  1914 40,787 

Admitted  during  1915 43,172 

Gain      2,385 

Sunday  Schools: 

Number  of  members,  January  1,  1915        757,873 

Number  of  members,  January  1,  1916        766,103 

Gain      8,230 

Young  People's  Societies: 

Number  of  organizations,  January  1,  1915 3,120 

Number  of  organizations,  January  1,  1916 3,261 

Gain      141 

Number  of  members,  January  1,  1915        133,474 

Number  of  members,  January  1,  1916        137,827 

Gain      4,353 

Total  Benevolent  Contributions: 

Amount  reported,  1914 $2,272,040 

Amount  reported,  1915      2,433,205 

Gain      $161,165 

Home  Expenditures: 

Amount  of  home  expenses  for  1914 $10,716,311 

Amount  of  home  expenses  for  1915 10,382,503 

Decrease      ,                                                                    .   .  $333,808 


Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


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Pilgrim  Deeds  and  Duties 


INTERNATIONAL  CONGREGATIONALISM 


COUNTRIES 

Churches, 
Chapels, 
and 
Stations 

Members  of 
Churches 

Members  of 
Sunday 
Schools 

England  and  Wales  
Scotland 

4,713 
214 

454,748 
36,042 

707,512 
28,193 

Ireland  

77 

2,108 

4,672 

Channel  Islands  
Canada: 
Nova  Scotia 

12 
26 

480 
794 

669 

851 

New  Brunswick  
Ontario  and  North  West 

9 
89 

251 
8,042 

113 

6,038 

Quebec 

28 

2  943 

2  361 

American  Zulu  Mission  
British  Guiana 

23 
SO 

6,306 
3,963 

5,258 
4,765 

China 

4 

647 

473 

India  
Jamaica 

SO 
48 

7,285 
3,516 

13,507 
1,975 

Japan  

103 

18,265 

7,727 

Natal  

52 
16 

2,558 
415 

1,634 
390 

New  South  Wales  

88 

5,121 

8,529 

New  Zealand  

44 
48 

2,985 
2,163 

3,660 
4,115 

South  Australia  

86 

4,286 

6,986 

Syria  
Tasmania 

47 

'974 

1,843 

Victoria  

94 

4,401 

8,588 

West  Australia  
South  Africa 

63 
272 

1,299 
19  553 

3,177 
7  279 

United  States  
Independent  and  Mission  Sunday  Schools.  .  . 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M 

6,103 

780,414 
80  844 

766,103 
39,129 
85  769 

West  Africa  (Sierra  Leone)  

19 

1,321 

667 

12,378 

1,451,724 

1,721,983 

Statistics 


115 


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A  BRIEF  LIST  OF  BOOKS 

CONGREGATIONALISM 


A  History  of  the   Congregational   Churches  in  the   United   States. 
Prof.  Williston  Walker,  Ph.D.     451  pages.    $2.00 

Congregationalists   in  America.      Rev.    A.    E.    Dunning,    D.D.     552 
pages.     $1.25 

The  Genesis  of  the  New  England  Churches.     Rev.  Leonard  Bacon, 
D.D.     485  pages.     $2.50 

The  Pilgrims.     Rev.  Fred'k  A.  Noble,  D.D.     483  pages.     $2.50 
The  Congregationalists.     Rev.  L.  W.  Bacon,  D.D.     280  pages.    $0.50 
Hero  Tales.     Grace  T.  Davis.     237  pages.     $1.0  i 
Congregationalism.     Rev.  Chas.  E.  Jefferson,  D.D.     32  pages.     $0.25 
The  Pilgrim  Faith.     Rev.  Ozora  S.  Davis,  D.D.     266  pages.     $1.00 
The  Beginnings  of  New  England.    Prof.  John  Fiske.    296  pages.    $1.80 
The  Colonial  Era.     Rev.  Geo.  P.  Fisher,  D.D.     348  pages.     $1.00 

Congregational   Administration.     Rev.    Chas.    H.    Nash,    D.D.      179 
pages.     $0.50 

Democracy  hi  the  Church.     Rev.  Edgar  L.  Heermance.     268  pages. 
$1.25 

The  Law  of  Congregational  Usage.     Rev.  Wm.  E.  Barton,  D.D.    500 
pages  $2.50. 

The  Place  of  Congregationalism  hi  Recent  History.     Rev.   Hubert 
C.  Herring,  D.D.     32  pages.     $0.10 

Organized  Congregationalism.    32  pages.     $0.10 

Forms  for  Use  in  Congregational  Churches.    32  pages.    $0.10 


The   prices   named   do   not   include   postage.     The   Pilgrim    Press, 
Boston  and  Chicago,  will  fill  orders  for  these  or  other  books  desired. 


I 

A     000  030  966     6 


